Sojurn
by Awdures
Summary: An accident sends Sonic and Knuckles to Earth
1. Chapter 1

**I tend to feel Sonic stories ought to have a 'version of reality' explanation attached to them, there's so many variations of canon. This one however could fit almost anywhere, although it started as a sort of AU to Sonic X as I never really went for their version of 'Sonic et al on Earth'. Only other relevant item that springs to mind is that the reference to Robotnik's backstory is the Fleetway comic version. It should though, make sense without seeing/reading either.**

* * *

"Would you like to remind me again--" Knuckles flung himself to the floor to miss another lurid green energy bolt. "--why we're running around getting shot at, trying to stop Robotnik trying something that isn't going to work anyway?" 

Sonic leapt across the corridor and smashed the sentry which had fired at them.

"Easy! We don't want to find out if it does. The Emeralds warp themselves to the Special Zone after all--why shouldn't they take someone with them?" Sonic leapt on top of the now now-smashed guard post and launched himself at the next wave of enemies without breaking his flow. "Or anywhere else? Instant transport. What Robotnik could do with that--" Three badniks fell to the same attack, "--is something else I don't want to find out."

The two surviving badniks scuttled up the walls and along the ceiling as Sonic finished speaking. Knuckles vaulted after them, scrambling hand over hand up the wall in pursuit.

"Too unstable. Unusable," he insisted as he dragged the first loose and flung it down to smash on the floor below. "The only way to control the Emeralds is back on the Floating Island." He shattered the second bot and dropped back to the floor.

"Which is where I ought to be." He looked around the now empty corridor. "I really don't know why I agreed to come along for this goosechase."

"That's a coincidence, " Sonic grinned at him, unabashed, "I'm beginning to wonder why I asked you to."

Knuckles opened his mouth to retort but closed it as a shudder ran through the building and somewhere up ahead a greenish light flared briefly. Hedgehog and echidna glanced at each other, both recognising the feel of the Chaos energy. They broke into a sprint towards the light.

Sonic rapidly drew ahead and was the first into the lab. Robotnik brandished an Emerald in each hand and didn't seem the least startled to see them. Instead he grinned.

"Too late!"

He brought them together and the world turned white.

* * *

If there'd been an explosion it was noiseless. All Knuckles knew was that suddenly he was tumbling, falling head over heels, wind screaming in his ears. He tried to orient himself, tried to gather his wits, tried to catch the wind beneath him, gather himself to glide, but his head swam and dizzily he realised he didn't even know which way was up. 

That particular question was answered when he hit something. Something extremely solid. He bounced off and landed flat on his face on another hard surface. For several minutes he simply lay catching his breath. The fall can't have been more than a few seconds. He'd been lucky.

He staggered to his feet and found himself in a kind of concrete pen. A low rail nearby was presumably the first thing he'd struck before falling to the floor. He moved stiffly across to it, rubbing his bruises, and looked over.

He felt suddenly and coldly sick. He stared down over the rail at a city several hundred feet below. Not a pen at all, but a rooftop with a guarding rail to ward people from the edge. A few feet further over and he'd have had more than bruises to worry about. He'd never in his life suffered from vertigo but the sight of that drop so narrowly avoided by mere chance made him feel he needed to sit down.

Instead he held tight to the rail and tried to work out what had happened.

For a start he was outdoors. Neither Robotnik, nor Sonic, were anywhere to be seen and no one here, wherever 'here' was, appeared to have noticed his precipitous arrival. This all gave him a bit of breathing space. Not to mention time to come up with some reply for Sonic who was sure to point out, when he turned up, that Chaos Emeralds clearly _could_ be used to move between places.

Knuckles leaned over the railing again. The city spread before him was larger than he'd ever seen. Nowhere on Mobius he'd ever visited. Vehicles moved on almost solid lines and hundreds of people moved beside and among them, too small from here to identify by race or species.

In short he had no idea where he was. The people did however seem to be busily going about their daily business unhindered so it was probably a safe bet he was some way from Robotnik's area of control. He hadn't seen a single bot since he'd arrived.

He cast about for a way down. If need be he could climb or glide, but his ribs ached from hitting the railing and the tight turns he'd need to fly to miss the buildings looked like needless hard work if there was another route.

He quickly located a set of metal steps which seemed to criss-cross all the way down the building. Escape route in case of some problem he assumed. Good. He wouldn't need to explain himself to anyone inside. He still didn't know who these city dwellers were and the limited travelling he'd done on the surface had taught him enough to know that Robotnik was not the only enemy out there.

Making his way across the city would be unavoidable but maybe he could keep his head down and avoid attention. Anywhere this size must be used to strangers passing through, even ones as unusual as a lone echidna. He doubted the same could be said of strangers turning up in a building which might be someone's home for all he knew.

He trotted briskly down the steps, which ended in an alleyway between two of the tall buildings. Knuckles looked hopefully along it, but there was nothing but a dead end and some rancid smelling refuse. The street it would have to be. He steeled himself for whatever reaction he might get and strode out into the throng.

The shock hit him like something solid. The city dwellers were human. All of them. They teemed all along him jostling and pushing, every one several hands taller than him. Robotnik's race.

He hadn't even known there was such a city. How far had the Emeralds flung him?

The impulse to get out of sight struggled against the frozen disbelief and it took several moments to realise that no one was paying any real attention to him. One man collided with him and cursed as he almost fell.

"Hey, kid, Halloween was a month ago. Get the hell out the way."

Knuckles just stared at him and backed away, seeking the relatively shelter of the alley but not wanting to take his eyes off this myriad of potential threats. He collided with someone else and spun round. This one was female and merely tutted loudly and strode on.

Some realisation clicked in Knuckles' mind. _They didn't know who he was!_ They didn't even know _what_ he was. They thought he was one of their own in some kind of costume. Still backing off warily, he banged against the corner of the building he'd just come from. He glanced back down the alleyway. He might be out of sight if he retreated but there was nowhere to go from there.

Knuckles tried to force his heart rate back to something approaching normal and walked back out onto the street, trying not to appear as intimidated as he felt. He ignored the jostling, and the remarks, some amused, some irritated, which were aimed in his direction.

He had no particular route in mind but no city was endless. If he kept walking in the same direction sooner or later he'd reach the edge of it.

* * *

Sonic had landed with somewhat less of a bump, though having been closer to the Chaos effect, had ended up no less bruised. He picked himself up from the grass and dusted himself down. He took his in surroundings at a glance and started speaking before he turned round. 

"Odd isn't it that the far-too-unstable-to-be-used Emeralds seem to have actually transported us after all." He turned with a smirk only to find the rest what appeared to be an empty garden. "Knuckles?"

Instead of an answer a startled yell came from a short, and unmistakably human boy. The combination of the yelling and the incongruous sight of such a small version of Robotnik's species was enough to render Sonic momentarily speechless.

"Hey, hey hey," he said hastily regaining his voice. "No need for that. It's okay. Shhh, look, I'm not gonna hurt you. Chill a minute, okay?"

"What _are_ you?" The boy asked, staring.

"Uh..." Sonic hesitated. As far as he knew Robotnik was the only human on Mobius. Also as far as he knew, his alter ego Kintobor has come from another dimension entirely. Was it possible the Emeralds had sent them there? And if so was it by chance or design?

One thing Sonic did remember, was that Kintobor's dimension contained no talking animals. And certainly no blue hedgehogs.

"Uhh..." he said again. "Can you keep a secret?"

The boy shrugged, puzzled, but at least not yelling any more. "I guess."

"Well, I'm from another--" Sonic frowned, he wasn't great on the technical details. "--another world."

" You fell out of thin air. I saw you! Are you an alien?"

"I'm from another planet, so I guess yeah, here I am." Sonic grinned at the thought. "That's kind of cool." He shook his head. "Anyway, there was some experiment. It must have got screwed up. I was trying to stop it and ended up here. You didn't see anyone else I suppose?"

The boy shook his head.

"Well if they're here too I'm sure they'll show up. Neither of them is exactly great at keeping a low profile."

Sonic shrugged and grinned broadly. "Well, since I'm here--" He stuck out a hand, "Hi, I'm Sonic."

The boy took it. "Chris. Nice to meet you. Look, if you're serious about keeping this quiet, you'd better come inside. People round here aren't exactly used to seeing giant talking animals in the garden y'know?"

"What about your parents? Won't I come as a bit of surprise to them too?" Sonic pointed out.

"Na, they're out. They're almost always out. You can come up to my room."

Inside, Sonic put his feet upon the couch in an attitude of complete relaxation. "Nice place."

"Aren't you worried about your friends?" Chris asked.

"Actually, one of them's more of what you'd call an arch enemy than a friend," Sonic said. "It was his experiment. The other one, we'll he's pretty good at taking care of himself." He winked. "But don't go telling him I said that, hey?"

* * *

Knuckles was still walking when it began to get dark. The crowd had thinned and the mood of the city had changed. The apprehension he'd initially felt was starting to creep back, the looks he was getting were increasingly hostile rather than curious. Raucous cries came from many of the brightly lit buildings and there was a distinct smell of alcohol in the air. 

"Didn't your mommy ever tell not to come down this part of town after dark?" someone called.

"What's with the costume, pal?" someone else demanded.

Knuckles ignored them but had to stop when someone stepped in front of him.

Knuckles looked up. "Get out of my way," he suggested. "Believe me, you do not want to start a fight with me."

"Hell it's not a brat it's a freaking midget!"

"You selling something, midget? Why the outfit?"

"Let me past." Knuckles glanced around, appraising the situation. There were at least three of them, not to mention the rest of the street, who seemed intent on their drinking at the moment but could turn nasty if one of their own was attacked.

One of the others jerked his head towards one of the vehicles.

"He's right about not starting a fight, Jacks, the cops are right over there."

The first speaker shrugged, "I ain't starting nothing. Just wanna know what's with the outfit. Civil question ain't it?"

He reached out to grab Knuckles' arm. Instincts reacted quicker than thought and he twisted loose and lashed out. His assailant screamed as blood ran from his face.

The others launched themselves into the fight and for several minutes Knuckles was too busy dodging and returning blows that he forgot to worry about being noticed.

A loud voice and the sound of running feet brought his attention back.

"Break it up!"

The one with the cut face rolled clear first, "He's a freaking maniac! Nutjob's got a knife or something!"

"Everyone put your hands against the wall."

Knuckles scrambled from the tangle of grabbing hands and flailing fists. He took one glance at the new arrivals, noted the matching uniform and the weapons at their sides and realised 'inconspicuous' was now out of the question.

He bounded forward, knocking the first one off balance and tearing past the other. "Police! Stop!" One of them shouted behind him. He glanced up at the side of the buildings as he ran. Could he outpace them climbing and lose them up there somewhere? The stabbing pain in his side suggested it would not be wise to try, and he grimaced, clutched it with one arm and ran on.

"Taser, taser! Stop now!" Another yell came from behind. Knuckles ignored it, vaulted over a collection of garbage cans and then abruptly for the second time that day found himself falling. He didn't even feel the impact as he hit the floor, every muscle in his body convulsing at once.

Then as suddenly as it had happened it stopped, and he went limp. One of the uniformed men ran up and stared down at him. Knuckles moved awkwardly trying to roll over and get back to his feet at least, it was indignity enough to be captured, let alone flopping about at his captor's feet.

"Keep still!" the man shouted, and Knuckles was surprised to find that his voice shook. Fear? "Keep still or I'll use this again." The man paused. "Uh... Do you understand me?"

"Yes." Knuckles grated, eyeing the weapon.

"Ramo," The other uniformed man ran up. "I've locked the rabble in the back of the squad car and sent for backup"

The first one spoke again. He voice still wavering.

"That isn't a costume."

The second officer joined his comrade in staring down at Knuckles.

"Jesus Christ."

Knuckles glared up at them. He had no idea why they should be so alarmed by this. Angry he could understand. Triumphant at grabbing him, sure. But scared? He hardly looked at his most intimidating, bruised, dishevelled, sporting a bloody graze across his muzzle, and currently flat on back.

Maybe they were just embarrassed and didn't want to have to explain to their boss how nearly he'd got away and how he'd just strolled through the city. That made a sort of sense, but it didn't much make Knuckles look forward to meeting the person who could inspire such fear in his underlings.

Sirens sounded and the second officer turned away. "That'll be our back up. I'll go meet them. Don't take your eyes off him."

The first officer nodded vigorously and watched the other leave. Fumbling he took a camera out of a pocket and held it to his eye. A light flashed.

"Jesus Christ", he repeated his partner's words.

* * *

"Bright blue, three foot high, talking hedgehogs would definitely make the news," Chris assured Sonic, switching on a view screen. "We'll see it on the TV if you're friend's turned up. You have TV where you come from?" 

"Similar enough." Sonic nodded. "Knuckles isn't a hedgehog though. Or blue. He's an echidna."

"A what?"

Sonic shrugged. "Well, that's what he says he is and as he's the only one there is anymore I guess I have to take his word for it."

Chris had fished a heavy book down from a shelf and flicked it open.

"One of those?" he asked, pointing at a photograph.

Sonic snickered. A brownish, pointy nosed, ball of spines looked back at him from the page. "Well I can sort of see the resemblance, but much as I hate to say it, he looks more like me than he does like that."

Chris turned a page. "Well here, hedgehogs look like this."

Sonic grimaced, the photograph wasn't much more flattering than the one of the echidna. "I think I'll stick with my own dimension."

"I wonder if on your world you evolved from them, like we did from monkeys here?"

"Monkeys?" Sonic shrugged, "I'm afraid I left the science types at home."

"The news is starting." Chris pointed.

Sonic got bored after the first two stories but figured it didn't really matter, as he was pretty certain that crazed dictators or red 'aliens' would have been pretty much the first item if they'd turned up.

He frowned.

"That's good isn't it?" Chris said, noting his expression, "I mean, they obviously haven't managed to get themselves noticed. Maybe Knuckles managed to find somewhere to hide out too."

"Maybe." Sonic allowed, still frowning. "He's not really much of a people person though."

He also had even less experience of humans, Sonic realised. He would almost certainly assumed anyone he met to be an enemy.

"I almost wish he _had_ turned up in a fight somewhere," he admitted.

* * *

Knuckles glowered silently at his captors, he hadn't said a word since being brought here except to demand to know who was in charge. 

"Take me to your leader" the officer who'd stunned him had laughed, sounding mildly hysterical, and he hadn't asked again. These people were apparently local law enforcement. They weren't concerned with him because of his reputation or Robotnik, they had intervened in a fight was all.

There was however someone else he couldn't quite figure out. There seemed to be an argument of some sort going on, which Knuckles, now with his hands handcuffed behind his back, could make very little of.

"So who exactly to we tell? What on earth is the jurisdiction here?"

"What on earth?" someone snorted. "That _is_ the question isn't. Are we even talking about _on Earth_?"

Silence fell as the officers regarded Knuckles.

"Fine. We'll start with the mayor. His city, his problem. Then find the closest army base and tell them. Let _them_ decide whether this is ET or Invasion of the goddamn Bodysnatchers."

"Sir." One of the officers left, presumably to carry out these orders.

"What about... him?" another asked.

"Lock him in the interview room. Last thing we need is to parade him past all the petty vandals in the cells for them to gawk at."

He gestured at Knuckles and took one of the weapons from the officer who'd brought him in. He waved it under Knuckles' nose.

"You know what this is now? You don't want it used again--you go with them. You do what you're told. Understand?"

Knuckles gave a single nod and the officer backed off. "All right then."

Knuckles went with them to a small room with a plain table, four chairs and a security camera. He considered the height of the chairs and instead sat down in a corner, leaning against the wall and glaring up at the camera. He hadn't understood the full gist of the argument but he knew he didn't like the part about an 'army' and he needed some peace and quiet to think of a way out of this.

After a moment the officer who seemed to be in charge entered with one other. He took one of the seats. The other remained standing, his hand close to his weapon. Knuckles ignored them.

The chief officer grunted.

"I've never read an alien its rights before so I'll be honest and say I don't know what the hell's going on here. I'm Captain Davies. You want to give me your name?"

"No." Knuckles was clear on that point. These people might not be close enough to Robotnik to recognise his enemies on sight, but his name would surely ring bells.

"And I suppose where you've come from is out of the question too?"

"Correct."

"How about what you're doing here."

Knuckles hesitated. A limited version of the truth there was safe enough.

"There was an accident. I got lost."

"Uh huh. Anyone with you?"

"No," Knuckles said instantly. "I was alone"

"So you what--crashed? Where?"

"I didn't crash, not a vehicle. I fell and landed here."

"Fell from where?"

"I don't know." Knuckles glared at him. "Like I said--I'm lost."

"What do you want here?"

"To get _un_-lost!" Knuckles shouted, losing his patience. "Look, those people in the alley attacked me, not the other way around. Why aren't you in there questioning them? I defended myself. I've done nothing wrong here."

The officers looked at him incredulously, then at each other with dawning realisation.

"Do you know where you are?" the chief said slowly.

Knuckles raised his eyes to the ceiling.

"What part of 'lost' do you not understand?"

"This is Earth." The man paused deliberately. "The _planet_ Earth?"

Knuckles stared at him, then sat abruptly back down. "I really am lost."

The fear and confusion in the officer's attitude suddenly made sense. He wasn't merely a foreigner to them--he was an alien.

"I didn't know, " he said. "I thought the accident had sent me to a distant part of my own world."

The officer regarded him, not looking entirely convinced. Knuckles couldn't blame him. If Earth's encounters with aliens had been anything like Mobius' they could hardly be expected to be anything but suspicious.

Finally the chief spoke. "If you're telling the truth about this being an accident, there's something else you should know."

Knuckles looked up at him.

"Earth has never encountered aliens before."

Knuckles groaned. "Well I'm no ambassador, so you can just say hello and goodbye to this particular alien, because all I want is to find out what got me here and make it get me back. Now let me go."

The chief stared at him. "You can't be serious. You saw the reaction people had. There'd be uproar. Besides, "he said, "there is still the attack. You managed to do quite a lot of damage in 'self defence' and there's the issue of a concealed weapon."

Knuckles turned around to display his cuffed hands. "These are not concealed."

"I'm sorry." The chief stood. "I have to hold you. I also have to warn that if you try to escape we will use whatever force is necessary."

Knuckles slumped back down against the wall. This complicated matters.

* * *

Officer Sam Ramo, closed the door of his apartment and leaned against it. He closed hi eyes tightly then opened them again half expecting to find himself in bed with the whole night so far just a freakish dream. 

He'd arrested an honest-to-god alien. The idea was patently ridiculous, and just as patently true. He pulled his camera back out from his pocket and stared at it.

Then slowly he moved to the phone. Newspaper offices always had someone there waiting for a scoop didn't they? Even in the middle of the night this had to be worth heating up the presses somewhere.

Had to be worth more than the pittance a beat officer salary brought in.

He flicked out the telephone directory.

* * *

"Uh, hello?" The young, and wide-eyed officer who had the near hysterics the previous night, opened the door. "The other prisoners are having breakfast but none of us have the first idea what you eat so I just brought a mixture." 

He entered the rest of the way, closely followed, to Knuckles' disappointment, by another armed officer.

He put a tray on the table. Knuckles eyed it. Several pieces of fruit were at least identifiable, but he hesitated. He was after all, being held by people who may or may not be enemies, on an alien world. If the stuff turned out to be poisonous he wouldn't even know if it was deliberate or accidental.

"Am I supposed to use magical alien powers to levitate this breakfast to my mouth?" Knuckles asked pointedly.

"Oh." The officer looked abashed. "No. Turn around. I'll take the cuffs off." He paused. "If there's any trouble..."

"Yeah. I know. Zap, right?" Knuckles said irritably. It grated at his nerves to be trapped like this and he wasn't in the mood to be threatened. As if he didn't already appreciate how little he could do about the situation he was stuck in. He turned around, rubbing his wrists and pointed at a bowl of unappealing looking kibble on the tray.

"What's that?"

"Museli," the officer said. "Frankly, I wouldn't recommend it. The sandwiches aren't bad. Bit early in the morning for them, but I had one."

Knuckles didn't have the facilities or time for bread making on the Island but had eaten them when visiting the surface occasionally. Eaten them warily--Sonic had a tendency to put the most outlandish things between bread.

"What's in it?"

"Cheese."

Knuckles wrinkled his nose. "Rotted milk."

The officer looked startled. "Uh, I suppose so."

"No." Knuckles picked up what he hoped was the local equivalent of an apple, and took a small bite. It did taste like apple. He crunched the mouthful, swishing it about in his mouth testing for any tingling or aftertaste. Eventually he swallowed. When nothing untoward happened he finished both apples, a cup of what proved to be orange juice, and the bread from the cheese sandwiches.

It wasn't really enough to fill him up, but he refused to lower himself enough to ask favours from his captors. Especially since the officer sat and watched him eat, clearly just waiting to put the cuffs back on. He'd make do.

* * *

Sonic woke that morning to vigorous shaking. 

"Hedgehog, hey, hedgehog!" Chris was calling.

"Sonic." Sonic mumbled, blinking sleep out of his eyes.

"Sorry. Sonic. But it's important you've got to see this."

Chris shoved a newspaper in front of him. It's all over everything."

Sonic looked.

"Oh no."

"That's your friend?"

"Yeah." Splashed across the front page under the bold headlines "Alien Arrest!" was a grainy but unmistakable picture of Knuckles. He was sitting in cell of some sort, glaring at the camera with a face like thunder and looking decidedly the worse for wear.

Sonic's eyes narrowed as he turned the page to see more. Most were grainy security camera stills of the same cell, Knuckles sitting or standing, his hands behind his back, presumably tied. In one he was laying on the ground outside, the picture clearly taken at night but better quality than the others. The barrel of a weapon was visible at the edge with two thin wires trailing from it.

"What's that?" Sonic asked.

Chris peered at the picture. "Ouch. It looks like they tasered him."

"They what?"

"It's like a dart gun, it gives you an electric shock down the wires. To knock you down."

"Where were these taken?" Sonic was wide awake now.

"It doesn't say. Some cop took them, but he wouldn't say where. Probably 'cause he'll get fired the minute his boss sees this. He swears it was a real alien. Not all the papers believe him. Some are up in arms 'cause they think the police did over someone who was just mucking around. Some think it's a fraud altogether."

"Good! The more that think that the better, if the police are going to go around zapping people for being aliens!"

"It says he was in a fight," Chris pointed out.

"He probably was." Sonic shrugged. "But he wouldn't have started it. He'd know it would draw attention. He's not that stupid." Sonic paused. "Don't tell him I said that either."

Sonic paced the length of the room and back. "Where would they take him?"

Chris shook his head. "I don't know. I mean, there's stories and things about aliens, secret government labs, army bases and things. Most people don't really believe in that stuff though."

"Did you believe in blue hedgehogs until yesterday?" Sonic asked. "I'll try 'me all."

"But they're all over the country. How are going to get there? It would take weeks to do that moving in secret. You can't exactly jump on a plane."

Sonic grinned and waggled one foot. "I don't need to."

---End Part 1---


	2. Chapter 2

There was no daylight into the blank-walled room but Knuckles guessed it had been about two hours since breakfast when the door opened again. He eyed the new arrivals guardedly, acutely aware of his vulnerability with his hands still cuffed behind him. They moved with the assurance of fighters. The officer last night had spoken of calling the army, this was clearly them.

Two were dressed in faded green, and armed, the third more formally. The formal one spoke first.

"Davies says you speak English, that right?"

"I can understand you," Knuckles answered, flatly.

"Good. Then understand this. We don't know the first thing about you. We have no way of knowing whether you're telling the truth. Or whether your intentions are hostile."

"They weren't until I was taken prisoner," Knuckles snapped.

The army officer ignored this and continued. "Or if you're really alone. For all we know you could be the vanguard of an invasion force." He paused, deliberately. "You might want to take these concerns of ours into account before taking any action that might be construed as aggressive -- unlike Captain Davies and his men here, we will not hesitate to use lethal force."

Knuckles regarded him, unimpressed. "If that was a threat, human, then 'fight and we'll shoot you' would have done."

The formal one smiled thinly. "I see we understand one another." He turned to the guards at his side. "Take him to the helicopter."

Knuckles weighed his odds, and didn't like them. Tied and still injured from the fall, there was no point in being anything less than realistic about his chances. And there was nowhere to go from here even he got away from these two. Outside this room was a whole building full of the police officers who'd caught him in the first place, and outside of that, a whole city of people who thought he was an invading alien.

He submitted to having the two soldiers take one arm each and walk him towards the door. There'd be a better chance later. He hoped.

He considered it again when they were airborne in the flying machine the officer in charge had called a 'helicopter'. He wasn't tied _to_ anything and thought he could probably jump if he had to. He had never tried gliding without the use of his arms though and thought steering could be a problem. Not to mention the fact that he'd have to disable all three occupants before he jumped or risk being shot in mid-air. Should he try to take out the pilot as well? He'd probably have his hands too full to be a threat, but then again if they crashed there'd be no one following him.

It was possible. Maybe. Knuckles looked out and down as the helicopter banked. Perhaps once they were over more open ground.

* * *

"You're going to run?" Chris asked. "To all those bases and just stroll in and have a look around?" 

Sonic grinned, "Well strolling wasn't exactly what I had in mind. But yeah, basically. They can't be any harder than all of Robotnik's bases I've trashed."

"Let me come." Chris said, suddenly. "I could help, my grandfather would understand, he'd drive. You might need someone who could blend in. We could get you stuff you needed."

"Sorry, kid." Sonic shrugged. "Too slow. I'll manage. I always do."

"What about when you find him? Where you going to go? What if he's hurt? Those photos didn't look good." Chris persisted, clearly desperate to help somehow.

"All right," Sonic allowed. "_If_ we need help or somewhere to hide out, we'll call. Okay?"

Chris didn't look entirely satisfied with that, but subsided. "Okay. Err... D'you have telephones in your dimension?"

* * *

The terrain below them was turning slowly to scrubby desert. Knuckles decided if he was going to try and make a break for it he'd better do it before they got too much further into this wilderness or he'd have to add heat exhaustion and dehydration to his list of worries. 

He glanced at the officer sat facing him, but avoided turning his attention to the two guards either side. They must have no warning. He could feel them fidgeting without looking anyway, it had been hot and uncomfortable for most of the two hour flight so far and they were clearly not at their best.

He shifted position carefully, as though to ease a cramp, then suddenly exploded upwards. He jumped to stand on his seat and head-butted the first guard before swinging around to kick the second sharply under the chin. His head slumped back and he collapsed. The officer flung himself across the cabin to reach the weapon of the reeling first guard and Knuckles tackled him.

He realised his mistake instantly as his injured ribs screamed out with the impact. He went down along with the winded officer, his breath hitching in his chest. The officer reached the weapon and Knuckles forced himself back to his feet and drove into him with his shoulder, pinning him against the dividing partition to the cockpit.

There was a bang, deafening in the enclosed space, and pain blossomed, hot and fierce, lancing up from Knuckles' right foot. He fell as the helicopter pitched violently and heaved to the left. He skidded towards the door, and for a moment thought he might actually tumble out and be able be glide clear after all. Then the officer's hand clamped around his arm and pulled him back. He looked up into the gun.

"What the hell's going on back there?" the pilot yelled from the front.

"Fly on," the officer answered, still breathless. "It's under control."

Knuckles tried to raise his head from his supine position to see what had happened to his foot and received a kick for his trouble.

"Stay down."

The officer called to the conscious guard without taking his eyes off Knuckles. "Check on Golding. Then get over here."

The guard moved giddily to his unconscious colleague whom Knuckles had kicked.

"He's out, but he's breathing," he reported back, rubbing his head. "Jeez, for a little guy he packs a punch."

"Next time I'll tear your head off," Knuckles promised, in too much pain to be diplomatic.

"Next time I won't shoot you in the foot," the officer said, unmoved. "So I suggest you don't try it."

Knuckles glared at him but made no further comment.

* * *

Against his better judgement Sonic had allowed Chris to introduce his grandfather. Chuck. Getting out of the city without being seen looked far too chancy. Hiding in a vehicle seemed the best way. So far his presence had not been reported and he'd prefer to keep it that way for now so he have at least a marginal head start--the minute he hit the first base the others would be alerted, and even his usual boundless optimism didn't stretch to expecting he'd get lucky first time. 

To his surprise, the old man had been more fascinated than shocked, and Sonic had had to fend off a welter of questions, none of which he had time for. He'd seen some more of the news reports and for the first time was feeling truly worried.

"Look once I find Knuckles we'll come back and you can have the complete potted history of Mobius, okay? But first I've got to find him."

Sonic waved one of the papers which featured a headline reading 'The Alien Menace'.

"If this is what this planet thinks of aliens, who knows what they're doing to him? It's been hours--they might be cutting him up to find out what aliens are made of while we're standing here!"

"They wouldn't!" Now Chuck did sound shocked. "The first alien lifeform we've ever met..."

"Well they weren't exactly toasting his health in those photos, Gramps!" Sonic bounced on the spot, "Now are you going to give me a ride to the edge of town or not?"

"All right. We'll go now. You'll have to get in the back of the car and keep your head down."

"Okay, whatever. Let's go!"

* * *

Knuckles leaned into the men holding him from behind and kicked out with both feet, heedless of the fact that this sent a burning pain up his leg and spattered blood across his assailant. 

"There! You wanted some of my blood, have that!" The syringe clattered into a corner as the man holding it staggered back. "Or go scrape it off the floor of your boss's flying machine!"

The white-coated man who'd been kicked, calmly selected another syringe. "We can sort out that foot," he said, "but we don't know what effect our medicines would have on you. I need a blood sample to find out more of your biology before I administer anything." He advanced again.

"Don't you dare put any of your drugs into me!" Knuckles twisted violently away, managing to pull one arm free of the guards holding him, "Don't you dare!"

The guard grabbed his arm again. Two more who'd been stood in the doorway started forward to help hold him.

"This is ridiculous," the man said. "Let's get him on the examination table and under control, please."

The two new guards grabbed Knuckles' ankles. He twisted and thrashed but carried like this he had no leverage. He thought about biting the nearest hand but that would probably only mean he got dropped on his head, which would hardly improve the situation.

The examination table was really more as much bed as table, albeit not a particularly comfortable one. Knuckles was dumped unceremoniously on it and tight bands fastened around his wrists and ankles, though it took all four guards to hold him. He did bite then, snapping his head round and sinking his teeth into the nearest guard's hand until they ground against bone. The man howled and flailed at him, but it took other guard's intervention to prise his jaw open.

The others stepped hastily clear as soon as they finished with the restraints.

"You stay there." The white-coat pointed to the injured man who had sat down on the floor, looking faint, and clutching his injured hand. "You'll need a tetanus shot at the very least. The rest of you, get out."

The guards obeyed, though they looked reluctant.

"I'm sorry that that was necessary," the white-coat said, clearly addressing Knuckles, though he was tending to the guard's injury.

Knuckles was too angry to even speak, and snarled at the man. If he was honest with himself he was more than a little unnerved at the nature of this imprisonment, and it was an unfamiliar and unwelcome feeling.

The man finished treating the guard and pointed at the door. "Wait outside. If there's any trouble I'll call."

He turned back to Knuckles.

"You hear that? They're right outside if you try anything."

"Like what?" Knuckles tugged at the restraints for emphasis. "Make a few pointed remarks about your parentage?"

"Fluent English and a very Earth-contemporary sense of humour," the man noted aloud, then added, "Even if it is rather a sarcastic one. Just how long have you been familiar with this planet?"

"I've _been_ here since yesterday afternoon. I'm sincerely hoping to _not_ be here long enough to get familiar with it. But we have armies and thugs and scientists who think they can treat people like experiments where I come from too. So I don't need to be familiar with this world--you'd fit right in with the scum on mine."

Knuckles went limp, breathless after this outburst. Then he stiffened again as the man prepared a syringe for the third time. Unable to move even enough to struggle, he turned his head away as the needle slid into his arm.

"I can understand why you're angry," the man said, withdrawing the needle and capping the vial of blood. "But you must understand our position too." He moved closer so Knuckles could see his face. "Quite frankly your appearance has scared the bejeezus out of an awful lot of people who don't scare easily."

* * *

The car pulled over on a deserted stretch of highway and Sonic jumped out. 

"Thanks, he said. "I can go on from here."

"Well," Chris said. "If us need us..."

"I'll call." Sonic promised.

"And let us know what happens?"

"Sure thing." Sonic grinned. "If it goes to plan you may well see it on your news... See ya!"

With a quick wave he accelerated until he was out of sight.

"Wow," Chris said. "When he said he could run he really meant it."

Sonic took a direct line cross country, rather than follow the road. He guessed the track he'd need, secure in the knowledge that it wouldn't take him long to cover the ground if he had to search a bit once he got there. It was better to stay clear of roads and towns if he was to maintain the element of surprise for even one foray.

He ate up the miles easily, even as the terrain grew rougher, until he saw buildings in the distance. A large wheeled vehicle moved along a road at the skyline towards them. There was no cover whatsoever.

Sonic shrugged, he'd hadn't really expected there to be much lying low involved in any case. He tore towards the boundary fence, sprang up and over and skidded around the first guard he saw, the slipstream of his passage bowling the man off his feet. Sonic leaned over him.

"Hi! You haven't seen a bright red echidna round here by any chance? Probably in a rather foul mood by now?"

The man gaped at him, the open mouthed astonishment too comical to be faked.

Sonic shrugged. Of course it was altogether possible that the common or garden sentries were in the dark about what went on in their own base. Sonic bounded away again and headed for one of the central buildings, scattering the base personnel left and right without slowing. He spun into a door which gave instantly.

Two uniformed men gaped at him with much the same expression as the hapless sentry.

One of them suddenly gabbled, "Oh God it's true, they said they had one over at--" he clammed up at a glare from the other.

Sonic leapt at him, knocking him off his feet and standing on his chest to peer down at him.

"Over at _where?_"

"Stand away" the other man snapped, regaining his wits and drawing a weapon.

A weapon he suddenly found himself without and Sonic grinning while tossing both in a sort of improvised juggling.

"It's not polite to interrupt someone when they're talking," he said, "Your friend here was about to tell me where the other scary alien is."

* * *

Knuckles closed his eyes as he heard the door open. He wasn't interested in seeing what they wanted this time. The blood sample had only been the beginning. Since then it had been needles in his arms, tubes down his throat, x-rays, scans, some device that had involved taping wires to his skin and which, while it hadn't hurt, had been preceded by them shaving away little bald spots in his fur to attach them. Even urine and stool samples, and the indignity of that was almost as painful as the throbbing from his ribs. Ribs which they'd helpfully informed him were broken in two places but had done nothing about. 

They had cleaned and bandaged his foot, but he was unable to pass judgement on that particular bit of doctoring at present.

"Are you actually intending to cripple me, or is that a happy side effect?" he asked as the footsteps drew closer.

"What?" The startled voice of the doctor answered him.

"I can't feel my hands and feet any more. Your thugs were a little overzealous with the restraints. I asked if it was actual intentional malice or just ignorance."

He was quite pleased in a distracted sort of way at how controlled his voice sounded, while a tiny, terrified corner of his mind was screaming about being this helpless.

"Oh dear," the doctor said, and Knuckles did have to admit he looked genuinely distressed. In fact he'd apologised continually for everything he'd done. Which hadn't stopped him doing it, Knuckles reminded himself.

"I don't suppose I could persuade you to promise not to try and escape if I loosen them could I?"

"Don't be stupid," Knuckles said, coldly. "Why would I make such a promise to an enemy? And what enemy would be fool enough to believe it if I did?"

"Very astute," came a second voice. Knuckles couldn't turn his head far enough to see the speaker but recognised the voice of the officer in charge of bringing him here. "But it's disappointing to find you already consider us enemies."

"General Whitman," the doctor greeted him.

"Leave him, doctor," the general ordered. He walked around to the bottom of the table where Knuckles could see him.

"What am I supposed to consider you? You lock me up, shoot me, then tie me to a laboratory table and start sticking me with things!"

"That's not how it happened," Whitman corrected him in a mild tone. "We removed you from the street for your own protection since you were involved in an unseemly brawl, only to have you turn on the officers guarding you so that we were forced to restrain you. Since then we have been endeavouring to find out enough about your biology to provide for you safely."

Knuckles stared at him.

"In light of all that," Whitman continued. "It is disappointing to hear that you have apparently been lying to us from the beginning." He rested one hand on the table near Knuckles' feet. "You did not come here alone."

"Yes I did," Knuckles contradicted him. "I told the police officers. There was no one with me."

"Yes, they said you told them that." He drummed his fingers. "They said you were very definite about it. Very quick to answer that question even though you refused to answer most of the others. Almost as if you'd already decided what you were going to say if asked."

"It's a simple question," Knuckles snapped. "It didn't take a lot of thought."

"Disappointing," Whitman repeated. "It shows a lack of good faith, a lack of gratitude."

"Gratitude?" Knuckles spat, "What have you done for me to be grateful for?"

Whitman moved his hand to Knuckles' bandaged foot and plucked idly at the steritape. "For one thing, if we were merely your jailors there would be no need to us to have spent time treating you." He smiled. "So now I'll give you something else to be grateful for. You complained you couldn't feel your foot any more." His hand tightened.

Knuckles jerked convulsively in the restraints, unable to contain a startled shriek of pain as the general gripped his foot, digging his fingers hard into the bound wound.

"You can feel it now can't you?"

"General!" the doctor protested.

Knuckles bit down on his yell and squeezed his eyes shut.

"Are you sure you haven't forgotten anyone who may have _accidentally_ ended up here with you?"

"There was no one," Knuckles' breath came raggedly. "No one."

Whitman released his grip.

"I have to admit I haven't been entirely fair. You see I already know there is someone else here, and I haven't shared that information with you. Someone attacked one of our other facilities earlier today. What I need from you, is to know what we're looking for and what he's capable of."

Knuckles shook his head. "I was alone."

Whitman sighed. "Disappointing."

* * *

Sonic stood on a ridge overlooking the base below. He didn't think he'd been spotted yet, though there was certainly a lot of movement down there. It was bigger than the first place too. He tapped a foot thoughtfully. If he didn't find Knuckles pretty early on it was going to turn into a real fight. 

Full dark had fallen a few minutes ago and he was starting to wonder if stealth might have its advantages here after all.

He watched the sentry pass below and waited for him to return. Definite workable gap there to get in without having to confront him, and once he was among the buildings there'd be a lot more cover.

He nodded and waited for the sentry to pass again before hurtling down the hill and vaulting the fence. He flung himself down against a low roofed building and waited. No alarms, no running humans. Good.

He looked around. There were dozens of buildings. Hundreds of people. He moved swiftly from building to building, staying in the shadows, nothing more than a quick blur as he moved from one to the next.

Another movement caught his eye as he passed a long lowest building near the centre of the compound and someone shouted.

It was a startled yelp not a warning cry but instantly Sonic jumped at the person shouting grabbing him from behind, brought him to his knees and clapped a hand around his mouth.

"Be quiet," he said firmly. "I'm not going to hurt anyone but you've got a pal of mine here who gets ever so crabby when he's homesick y'know? Really I'm going to be doing you all a favour by getting him off your backs."

He loosened his grip slightly. "I'm going to let go now, and if you yell for help of try and run I'm going to knock you out. Be sensible and keep quiet and we'll take a little walk to that shed there and you can be sit nice and comfortably locked in until we're gone. Got it?"

The man nodded and Sonic let go. "That way."

"I can tell you where your friend is," the man said hurriedly.

"Oh? And why would you do that?" Sonic asked.

"Because it's wrong," the man looked at him earnestly, though his voice shook. "I didn't think it would be like this. I thought if we ever really did meet aliens, that we'd talk to them, you know, negotiate. Share things, learn things. But the general-- The way he--"

The man faltered and didn't finish, he shook his head fearfully. "It wasn't my fault!" He pointed. "It's that building there. Room 10D."

Sonic looked at him thoughtfully. He seemed for real. "Okay. But we're you're still going to wait this out in that shed."

The man nodded. "I understand."

* * *

Sonic stared at the door to which he'd been directed. Smashing it was sure to finally set whatever alarms this place had ringing. He shrugged. Well he'd got this far. He dashed at the door, leaping into a spin and tumbling through as it gave. 

He took in the room quickly, obviously a lab of some sort, harsh overhead lights and the smell of disinfectant, but his attention was immediately focused on the table at the half-lit far end.

"Knuckles!" Sonic ran across. "Hey, are you okay? Let's get out of here."

Knuckles stirred but didn't open his eyes.

"Come on!" Sonic fumbled with the buckles on the restraints. "Wakeywakey." He reached over to shake him slightly.

Abruptly Knuckles launched himself off the table and tackled Sonic to the floor. "That was a mistake," he snarled. "Now you let me out of here or I'll smash _your_ foot and see how it feels!"

Winded, Sonic struggled awkwardly. "Hey! Hey it's me. It's Sonic. Get off!"

Knuckles rolled back to his feet, staggered and sat down heavily. "Sonic?"

"Yeah. Sonic."

Sonic got back to his feet and made a point of brushing himself down.

"How many other blue hedgehogs are there in this place?" He stared at Knuckles who appeared to be having trouble remaining upright even sitting down and had slumped against the support of the table. "Man, you look dreadful. What happened?"

Knuckles stared blankly at him, his eyes not quite focussed. "Sonic?"

"Third time's the charm. Can we get out of here now?"

"I'm sorry, Sonic."

"Huh?"

"I told them you were here. I tried not to but I did. I told them other things, I can't remember what I told them. They knew and they asked and I told them you were here."

"Yeah well don't beat yourself up too much--I think they probably figured that out for themselves when I busted their other base."

Sonic stared at Knuckles who was trying again to stand and swaying alarmingly. If he didn't know better he'd swear he'd had been drinking.

"What did they give you, huh?" He moved to help haul the echidna to his feet. I hope you're not going to start telling me I'm your bestest ever pal." He looked down. "What's the matter with your foot?"

"Got a hole in it. Tried to jump out of a something when they were bringing me here. Messed it up. Bang. Hole. Bigger hole now because I wouldn't tell them until I told them. There was no one with me."

"Right." Sonic blinked. "Well I'm glad that's clear. Can you run on it?"

"Yes."

In this drugged state he probably could too, Sonic thought--he appeared more confused than hurt at the moment.

"Fine, then--" A bellowing siren interrupted him. "Oh great. I think we've been noticed. Forget run--can you fight like that?"

In answer Knuckles raised his fists and curled his lip back. "Not tied now. They owe me." He launched himself at the first soldier to appear through the door, cracked his head against the jamb and leapt out into the corridor. Sonic followed, and bowled over two more before they could raise their weapons.

"Over here!" he shouted, when Knuckles seemed more intent on the soldiers coming the other way than the exit.

A gun fired and Sonic threw himself to the floor before bounding forward at the shooter. Knuckles leapt past him, over the head of one guard, clutched at the wall to anchor himself and swung a kick back into the head of another. He landed in a sprawl and Sonic dragged his back to his feet and shoved him in the right direction.

The night air had never been so welcome. The searchlights and shouting and running soldiers were less so. Sonic's eyes lit on a glass topped tower near one of the runways and he pointed.

"Can you get to the top of that?"

Knuckles blinked at him, glassy-eyed. "Of course I can, wh--"

"Get up there and get ready to jump. You'll know when."

Sonic ran into the opposite direction as Knuckles swerved his way across the compound. It wasn't really clear whether the weaving route was deliberate to avoid the weapons fire or the side effect of whatever he'd been dosed with, nevertheless he was at the tower and well on the way up without being hit, by the time Sonic reached the spot he wanted. Plenty of room for a runup. He paused and eyed the tower. Unlit. Deserted at this hour. The perfect distraction.

He lowered his head and leaned forward as he built up speed. He had to hit this straight on, the tower was round and if he got the angle wrong his spin attack would just bounce off. Embarrassment would then be the least of his troubles.

He spared a glance upwards. Knuckles was clinging to the top. Below him the soldiers seemed undecided as to whether they should be firing or not.

Sonic gritted his teeth and spun. There was a crashing about his ears and he shook the dust off his spines as he barrelled out the other side. For a moment he though the tower would hold then it crumbled at one side and started to topple. The soldiers scattered and Knuckles leapt clear and into a glide, almost invisible against the night sky. Someone scurried for a searchlight which Sonic promptly smashed before running for the fence. It was more than time to be gone.

He followed Knuckles, as he cleared the fence and dropped back to the ground a few hundred yards away. It was a less than graceful landing and he ended up on his hands and knees, his breath abnormally loud, even against the background noise of the base scrambling a search.

He spoke thickly as Sonic approached. "Is it possible for someone who's a natural glider to get airsick?" he asked.

Sonic smirked, "I seriously doubt it, Knux."

Knuckles groaned. Sonic's eyes widened and he wrinkled his nose in distaste. "You're not going to _be_ sick are you? We need to be a long way from here fast."

"Nothing to be sick with," Knuckles mumbled, ignoring the last comment. "Didn't give me anything. 'Cept the stuff in the needle. Questions. Questions in a needle. They said they knew I was lying about nobody but I didn't tell them. I know I didn't, I don't think I did."

Whatever adrenalin had carried Knuckles through the fight and escape was clearly losing out to the drugs in his system. Sonic shook his shoulders.

"Will you snap out of it! We've covered this. They knew because I went to one of the bases looking for you. I told you that already."

"You--" Knuckles eyes snapped all the way open. "You did what? After you knew they'd got me? After you knew what they thought of us? You... You idiot!"

For the second time that night Knuckles launched himself in a fury at Sonic.

"Do you know what they did trying to get me tell them you were here and I didn't--well I did, but that was after-- and after all that you just waltz right in anyway! This is your fault! The whole fact we're here is your fault!"

Apoplectic with fury Knuckles might be, but at the moment he was also injured and half drugged and Sonic twisted easily away until he was sprawled bodily on the struggling echidna.

"This really isn't the time!" he shouted. "Knuckles, listen, once we're away you can tell me in details why this almighty screw-up is all my fault, but right now we need to be running."

"Run then." Knuckles abruptly stopped fighting. "In case you hadn't noticed, I'm one hole short of having two functional feet right now. I'm not what you might call equipped for a marathon."

Sonic let go of him and stood up.

"How are you are riding piggy-back?"

Knuckles blinked. "You cannot be serious. Aren't you forgetting one minor detail of hedgehog anatomy?"

Sonic shrugged, his spines ruffling. "Well not quite a-back then, but if you grab on around my shoulders and I hold your arms I think I can manage."

Knuckles looked sceptical but approaching shouts of a search detail decided the matter and he clambered back to his feet.

"I'm warning you," Sonic said as he caught hold. "If you really are sick--I'm letting go!"

---End Part 2---


	3. Chapter 3

Knuckles woke up shivering in spite of the sun in his eyes and the heat rising from the ground. He squinted at the tall rock walls stretching up on either side. The sun shone directly down between then. It must be close to noon. He started to sit up but his head swam and he thought better of it

"Sonic?"

"Hey Knux, I thought you were going to sleep all day. Want some breakfast? It's some sort of pastry. Pretty good."

Knuckles grimaced.

"No."

"You sure?" Sonic bounced over and waved something sticky under his nose. Knuckles' stomach threatened to revolt. "Bit late for breakfast maybe. Lunch? Early dinner?"

"I said no." Knuckles tried sitting up again, more slowly this time. "Anyway, what do you mean, 'pastry', where'd you get pastry? Where are we?"

"I hit a bakery first light, it was the only place open before things got busy, we're outside a little town a few hundred miles from the base." Sonic answered in one breath. "It would have been further but you fell asleep." He paused. "Um and then fell off."

"You mean you dropped me."

"Well you sort of slithered down," Sonic admitted readily. "Y'know I think you're heavier asleep than you are awake."

"Unlikely."

Sonic shrugged. "You know you really ought to have something. When was the last time you ate?"

"Mind your own business." Knuckles shifted uncomfortably while trying not to display that discomfort. "I'll eat when I'm hungry."

_And when my guts stop feeling like someone stirred up a whirlpool there, _he added silently.

Sonic shrugged again. "Up to you. It's just you're looking a bit green about the gills. Not a good colour with red, that's all I'm saying."

An angry retort rose to Knuckles lips about how Sonic would look sick too if he'd been the one captured and probably well on his way to being dissected, but he sighed and didn't bother.

"Is there anything that isn't sweet?" he asked instead.

"_Not_ sweet?" Sonic looked genuinely surprised. "There might be a roll or two."

Eventually a couple of soft baps were unearthed at the bottom of the bag Sonic had hastily stuffed. Knuckles nibbled at one cautiously, more interested in the water bottle he'd also snagged.

The nausea had abated slightly by the time he'd finished the first roll and the muzzy feeling in his head started to clear. The pained blur of the previous night's events slowly turned into a more coherent memory.

Knuckles put his second roll down. He rather wished they'd remained a blur.

"Sonic," he said.

The hedgehog turned from where he was removing a steaming pan of water from the remains of a fire. Not a saucepan Knuckles noted distractedly, but a cake tin--the bakery again.

"What I said last night--" Knuckles forced himself to look away from the fire and meet Sonic's eyes. "I should not have said it. What happened was not your fault." He dropped his gaze and stared at his roll. "I was not entirely myself."

Sonic cocked his head to one side. "Hmm. Argumentative... Attacking the wrong person... Talking rubbish... I'd say--"

"Don't." For once Knuckles seized gratefully on Sonic's ability to make light of any situation. "Oh and by the way that 'not your fault' only applies to the natives wanting to use me as a science project--our being here in the first place, most certainly _is_ down to you and your bright ideas."

This time however, Sonic was the first to look away. "I know that, Knuckles."

Caught off guard by this sudden contrition, Knuckles cast about for another topic. He pointed at the contents of the bag Sonic had brought from the bakery, now spread across the rock.

"Why the tablecloth? A little formal for out here don't you think?"

Sonic returned to the fire and tin of water. "It's for clean bandages." He pointed. "In case you haven't noticed that foot of yours is looking decidedly manky."

"Manky?" Knuckles regarded Sonic. "And I'm to be doctored by someone capable of such a masterly diagnosis as 'manky' am I?"

"Well you can try it yourself if you want."

In answer, Knuckles reached for his injured foot. There was a worrying warmth extending all the way to the ankle. He frowned, leaned forward then gasped as his injured ribs protested.

"You were actually considering it weren't you?" Sonic said shaking his head in disbelief, as Knuckles sat back, panting. "Man, if ever someone didn't know how to take help when it's offered..."

"I do not need anybody's help, hedgehog." Knuckles grunted in pain but did not pull away when Sonic reached to undo the soiled bandage. "I can look after myself."

Sonic shrugged, "You don't have to _need_ something to know it's sometimes useful anyway." He finished peeling the bandage off and reached for the now lukewarm water. "And how exactly were you planning to get out of that base without help?"

"I was planning--" Knuckles gritted his teeth as Sonic worked on the wound but didn't stop speaking, "to wait until they tried to take me back to my cell then flatten them like I flattened you and force them to show me the way out if they didn't want their heads ripping off."

"Oh." Sonic looked so surprised at this ready answer that Knuckles broke into a gasping laugh. He laughed even harder at the startled expression on the hedgehog's face when he clearly took the rasping sound for some form of distress.

"Well, that's very--direct." Sonic said after his surprise had passed and a smirk returned to his face.

"I thought you'd appreciate it." Knuckles flopped back full length on the sand, suddenly exhausted.

* * *

Despite the mid afternoon sunlight Knuckles fell back to sleep almost as soon as Sonic had finished cleaned and re-bandaging his injury. He had claimed it would just be a nap before they set off again come nightfall but looking at him Sonic doubted he was in any fit shape to travel, even with help. 

But they could hardly stay here either. It was too small. Someone would quickly notice if food and supplies went missing too often. He could forage further afield but that would mean longer periods where Knuckles would be on his own, and while Sonic didn't doubt his ability to put up an almighty fight if discovered, the reality was that if the human army came inforce they'd both be outnumbered. Running would be the only practical escape. And that was something which Knuckles was certainly not capable of until his foot healed.

Knuckles stirred restlessly and mumbled something in his sleep. Sonic paced anxiously, trying to make a decision. He might have _used_ the word 'manky' but he knew the word 'infection' too, and that foot looked bad.

Knuckles knew it too, Sonic had seen it in his expression. How often _had_ he had to treat his injuries alone on the Floating Island? Obviously it was often enough that he hadn't even considered having Sonic help -- even resented it.

Sonic thought of himself as pretty independent but Knuckles had been outright angry at having to accept help.

Sonic shook his head wryly. Knuckles was _really_ going to hate what he was going to do next.

---End Section 3---


	4. Chapter 4

Sonic spent several impatient, anxious hours waiting for it to be dark enough for the streets of the village to empty. The wait wasn't made any more enjoyable by Knuckles' newfound penchant for talking in his sleep.

"There's no one," he murmured, again.

Sonic sighed. "I can look after myself too, Knux." He spoke quietly, knowing he didn't dare broach this subject aloud. Not after Knuckles' reaction the last time he had tried to convinced him it wasn't his fault they knew about him.

"You could have just told them I was here. You didn't have to..."

_Have to what exactly?_ From Knuckles' behaviour last night he'd been drugged at the very least, and the condition of his injuries was worse than could be explained by a struggle during his capture. Knuckles was one of the most stubborn people Sonic knew. He found he didn't like to think to hard about what it must have taken to coerce him into revealing something he didn't want to reveal.

Sonic curled his hands into fists in frustration. But then there was the man back at the base. He'd clearly been upset by the actions of his--what? Boss? Colleagues? And the people's reactions in the news reports Chris had shown him didn't tally with this brutality. People had been disbelieving, scared, excited, more than hostile.

It occurred to him that he didn't even know who was in charge on this world and whether the actions of the rulers bore any relationship to what the ordinary people thought. He hoped he hadn't endangered Chris and his grandfather by enlisting them as allies.

Knuckles stirred again and Sonic winced. He was starting to feel guilty himself and wasn't sure he could sit through another rendition of Knuckles' repeated, broken protests that he was alone.

He moved to wake him but stopped when instead of the insistent monotone, Knuckles quavered, "_How_ can there be no one?"

Sonic paused, puzzled.

"How can it be empty? A whole island..."

Abruptly Sonic realised what Knuckles was dreaming of, slipping from one troubled memory to another. Even more than before, he was struck by an uncomfortable sense of eavesdropping on something not meant for his ears.

"Why would they leave?" Knuckles rolled over restlessly. "Why would they leave me here?"

"All right, that's enough." Sonic said, decided. This wasn't restful sleep by any definition. "Knuckles. Wake up." He pushed at the echidna's shoulder. "Come on."

Knuckles started awake, glass-eyed, his fur matted with sweat, his breathing noisy.

"Still here?" he said, the dry tone not quite covering the tension in his voice.

Sonic kept his voice carefully light. "Well at the risk of sounding like the dramatic high point of a bad movie 'I'm not leaving without you'."

If he hadn't known about the dream of a moment before he wouldn't have spotted Knuckles flinch, or noticed the subtle release of tension which followed it. As it was, he just pretended not to.

Knuckles closed his eyes. "We're not far enough away," he said.

"I'm working on it," Sonic said, fully prepared for an argument, but Knuckles had already drifted back into sleep or unconsciousness and didn't answer

Sonic looked from Knuckles to the darkness and stood up.

A phonecall was the first job, and it proved easy enough to find a telephone booth. The small town was fortunately without much in the way of nightlife and the streets were deserted early.

To Sonic's relief the call was answered by Chuck.

_"Sonic? It's good to hear from you. Did you find your friend?"_

"Yeah," Sonic watched warily through the glass of the booth for any late night passers by. "But there's a problem. He's been hurt. Quite badly. I didn't want to have to ask this..."

"_Anything you need._"

"I don't want to put you or Chris in danger."

Chuck laughed.

_"Don't worry. We can keep a secret. No one need know you're here."_

"All right. Thanks. We'll try and make it tonight."

"We'll be waiting." Chuck also gave Sonic some details of medicines to pick up, if he could, in his night's foraging.

Sonic managed to get most of them before leaving the village and returning to the rock outcrop where he'd left Knuckles.

He was asleep. Silently for now.

He was still out when Sonic had finished heating up the water to clean and re-bandage the wound, and didn't stir throughout the procedure. It was already worse. Sonic hoped the antiseptics Chuck had recommended would help. He woke him long enough to get him to swallow some of the painkillers and antibiotics he'd also managed to acquire.

That Knuckles didn't protest or question this, was yet another sign of his now rapid deterioration. Sonic was certain, he'd have resisted the idea, even yesterday. He couldn't be coaxed to eat anything, though did swallow a few mouthfuls of water.

"We need to move," he mumbled, struggling to stay awake.

"I know." Sonic stood and kicked sand over the fire. "You up for another ride?"

Knuckles climbed slowly to his feet, hobbled a step or two and nodded. "Just don't drop me this time."

"Don't let go this time!"

Sonic smiled to show he was kidding, but he quietly harboured a number of doubts on that score. He suspected he'd have to hang on for both of them if he wanted to reach Chris's tonight.

In fact, he was forced to slow, after less than half an hour, when Knuckles grip slackened.

"Knux? You awake back there?"

There was no answer, and Sonic sighed, tightened his own grip and ran on. This was going to take all night.

* * *

Dawn found Sonic across creeping the garden he'd first landed in. He felt horribly conspicuous, even in the half-light, as he lobbed a few stones at Chris's window. It flew open and Chris leaned out and waved before disappearing again.

Moments later both he and Chuck were at the door.

"Sonic!" Chris whispered, running over.

"Hi kid, thanks for the houseroom."

"Quickly." Chuck strode out with a blanket and Sonic led them back across the garden.

"How's Knuckles?" Chris asked, following.

"Not great," Sonic admitted, pointing through to where Knuckles was slumped unconscious beneath the copious shrubbery around the border of the garden.

Chris let out a small gasp, and Sonic wished he'd given him more of a warning. Knuckles was rather an alarming sight at the moment, bloodied, fur matted with sweat, he looked almost dead if you didn't watch carefully for his breathing.

"All right," Chuck said. "Let's get inside." He turned to Sonic. "Did you get the stuff I told you about over the phone?"

"Yes, but I don't know how much it's helped."

"Well I know a vet I think we can trust who'll be able to get hold of some stronger stuff."

"What's a vet?" Sonic watched as Chuck scooped Knuckles up as easily as lifting a child and carried him into the house. There were advantages to being a taller species, he decided.

"Sort of a doctor, but for animals. Really I don't know which is more appropriate, but I don't know many doctors and I do know this guy."

"You _think_ you can trust him, or you _know_ you can trust him?" Sonic asked. "Seems like half this planet thinks we should be shot as invaders and the other half thinks we should be in a lab."

Chuck looked down at Knuckles.

"The guy I know wouldn't send anyone--any_thing _­even--back to be treated like that."

* * *

Sonic waited quietly in the next room, within easy earshot as Chuck greeted his friend the vet.

"Thanks for coming, Terry."

"So what's the big emergency? I didn't think you kept pets."

"Um, well it's not exactly about a pet."

There was no answer to that and Sonic assumed that 'Terry' was waiting for further explanation.

"Maybe you'd just better come and see," Chuck said

Sonic moved back from the doorway and took a seat on the couch, next to Chris. They'd discussed this and decided he probably looked less of an alien menace that way and it would minimise the shock.

Chuck came through ahead of Terry and stood aside.

"Hi," said Sonic.

Terry stared. Then he glanced at Chuck, stared back at Sonic again and gave a short half-laugh.

"This is a joke right?"

"No, but I know a good one about an iguana and a barmaid." Sonic stood up and something in the movement must have convinced Terry because he paled.

"That junk in the papers..."

"Wasn't junk." Sonic nodded. "Yeah." He stuck out a hand. "Sonic the hedgehog. Pleased to meet you."

"Hedgehog?" Terry stared at Sonic's hand as he slowly reached out to shake it. "But the pictures in the paper, they weren't of you."

"That's why we need your help," Chris interjected.

Terry gave another half-laugh, and addressed Chuck instead of answering Chris directly. "I hope you don't expect me to mount some sort of alien jailbreak."

"Nyah, we've done that bit," Sonic grinned. Terry's attention snapped back to him.

"He's here?"

"Please, Tel." Chris interrupted again. "He's hurt."

Terry looked from Chris to Sonic, to Chuck, and nodded.

"Guess there's not many vets can add aliens to their client list." Another odd snort of laughter. "Lead the way then."

Upstairs, in the spacious attic bedroom, Terry hissed through his teeth at the sight of Knuckles, and opened a large lack bag, spreading a few items across the table.

"Who did this? Not the police? They said he was involved in a fight but--"

Sonic shook his head. "I don't know. He was at a military base when I found him. I don't know when the police handed him over, he didn't say, he's been a bit out of it."

"I'm not surprised." Terry sized up Knuckles' injuries.

"Speaking of the military," Sonic continued. "What's the news saying about how they lost their alien prisoner?"

"They're not admitting they had him in the first place." Chris grinned. "Denying everything. But a couple of UFO spotters out in the desert reckon they saw a control tower get blown up at some top secret base. I read it on the Internet, they reckon it's alien revenge from the sky for kidnapping one of their scouts."

"I could use a bit of air support--pity they're not right," Sonic commented.

Chris laughed.

--End Part 4--


	5. Chapter 5

Knuckles shifted and a subtle sense of wrongness jolted him instantly from half-aware sleepiness to confused alarm. He opened his eyes not to sky, but a wood-beamed ceiling and instead of sand beneath him he was tangled in blankets. He struggled to free himself, opened his mouth to shout but found it too dry to do more than croak, and flopped back, gasping.

Belatedly he remembered his injuries and was surprised to feel nothing more than assorted dull aches. How long had he been out?

As he tried to gather his wits he heard footsteps. Knuckles struggled to get upright, determined not to be caught flat on his back at least. Before he had quite managed it Sonic was leaning over him.

"Knuckles?"

"No, the Drakon Emperor," Knuckles rasped irritably, as he finished extricating himself from the blankets and sat up.

Sonic, as always, was heedless as always of the sarcasm. He handed Knuckles a glass of water from the bedside table.

"Here. How're you feeling?"

"Guess," Knuckles grunted but accepted the drink.

Sonic shrugged, "Well Terry said that dose we gave you was pretty strong so I'm guess you feel at least a little better than you look." He smirked. "Course that's usually the case anyway."

Knuckles was quite as capable of ignoring retorts as Sonic was and didn't rise to the insult.

"Dose? You drugged me?" That explained the muzziness anyway. "Who's Terry?"

"He's one of the humans, he's sort of a doctor."

"I think I've had enough of human doctors, Sonic." Knuckles allowed his anger to creep into his voice. He looked around the room. The fact he was indoors should have clued him that Sonic had found help somewhere, but it galled him to have not been consulted about it.

"Nah, it's okay. This one's on our side."

"And how does he know which side 'our' side is?" Knuckles banged the glass bang down on the table, sloping some of the water onto the varnished surface. What happened to laying low?"

"We needed somewhere safe _to_ lay low, Knux. You were in pretty bad shape for a while. I asked Chuck if we could stay here, and he asked Terry for help fixing you up."

"Chuck." Knuckles repeated. "Another human."

"Yeah. Chris's grandfather." Sonic's momentary seriousness seemed o have worn off and he was positively smirking as he listed yet another name.

"Anyone else?" Knuckles asked pointedly. "Do you plan to invite round the neighbourhood at large?"

Sonic's answer was interrupted before it began by the bedroom door opening. A tall man--even for a human--walked in.

"You're awake!" he said.

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "I'm me and I'm awake. Correct. How did I ever manage without people around to tell me these things?" He glared at the newcomer. "More useful would be to tell me who _you_ are."

"Oh, well I'm Terry." He walked across the room and stuck out his hand. Knuckles ignored it.

"Ah, yes, the one who drugged me."

Terry looked taken aback. "I gave you a painkiller. That's not quite the same--"

"Don't worry about Knuckles," Sonic cut in. "He doesn't get a lot of practice at being friendly."

"Oh..." Terry said again, clearly not sure what to make of this. He turned to Sonic instead. "Actually I came up to suggest that you get some sleep, and since--" he hesitated over the name, "--Knuckles--is awake now..."

Knuckles glanced sharply at Sonic, who did appear tired, now he came to look more closely.

"What's my being awake got to do with your going to sleep, Sonic? I have trouble seeing you as the 'hovering anxiously at the bedside of the afflicted' type."

Sonic shrugged. "No. I'm more the 'making sure the afflicted doesn't beat seven shades out of the people trying to help him, if he wakes up in a panic' type."

"Oh." It was Knuckles' turn to look abashed.

Terry cleared his throat in the awkward silence and Sonic spoke up.

"Terry, why don't you fetch Chris and Chuck?" He looked sideways at Knuckles. "Better make sure we're clear on who else isn't to be beaten up in a panic hadn't we?"

Still feeling rather chagrined, Knuckles refrained from commenting. He nodded brusquely to the older and younger human when they were introduced.

* * *

Though Knuckles' tolerance towards their hosts improved over the next few days, his mood didn't, and if he was honest Sonic had to admitted that his own nerves were getting a little frayed by the confinement as well. The enormous house could hardly be described as cramped quarters but the risk of being spotted meant that getting outside was out of the question and Sonic had decidedly itchy feet.

Scouring the news for word of Robotnik, to no avail, was not improving matters either. Not only would he rather enjoy a good fight after the days of forced inactivity, but he had to admit he had no plan B for getting them home. If they couldn't track down Robotnik, the Emeralds, and the device which had brought them here, they were stuck.

In the absence of any further developments, the news media seemed to have quietly the dropped the "aliens among us" stories, except among the fringe press which threw in the occasional article among the more outlandish tales of alien spaceships and flattened crops.

"Don't see Robotnik going in for making pretty pictures in hayfields somehow," Sonic commented, turning a page of the magazine he was scanning. They'd made a habit of checking the stories in case something about either them, or Robotnik turned up. This meant an awful lot of sifting through the almost believable, to the completely ridiculous. So far they'd found nothing that even seemed worth following up.

"For a species who've never had real alien contact before, these humans expend an amazing amount of energy talking about it." Knuckles threw another magazine aside with a snort. He had a growing pile of them beside the chair he'd commandeered after refusing to stay in bed. He stood up and limped the length of the room and back, hands curling and uncurling in frustration.

"I know he's here," he said. "I know the Emeralds are here."

Sonic didn't bother to ask if he was sure, or how he knew. Knuckles' intuition when it came to the Emeralds was generally reliable. He didn't both to remind him that he was supposed to be staying off his feet either--he looked like he was barely hanging on to his temper as it was.

"I don't suppose you have any clue _where_ here..." Sonic ventured after a few more moments of fruitless reading.

"I'm not a walking Chaos compass, Sonic!" Knuckles snapped.

"Stay cool. I'm only saying," Sonic raised his hands. "You never had any trouble finding me, when I had them."

"That was different. That was on the Island. Close to the Master Emerald. Close to me." The annoyance faded from Knuckles' voice and he screwed his face up in concentration, trying to explain. "It's not like I can just shut my eyes and point out a direction. I just get a... a sort of _impression_ of where they are. On the Island I know the zones well enough that an impression is all I need. Anywhere else on Mobius it's more difficult. Unfamiliar. Here..." He grimaced. "It's just too far. The distance is..." His voice trailed away again. "The Emeralds and the Master are linked, Sonic, and I don't know what it would take to break that link, but I can feel it and it feels--" He broke off as Chris and Terry entered the room and his tone changed abruptly. "Well it doesn't feel good."

Sonic didn't answer for a few moments. He'd never heard Knuckles talk so much at once, let alone about the Emeralds, and was faintly annoyed by the interruption that had caused him to clam up.

"We'll find them, Knuckles," he said. "We will."

"We'd better," Knuckles muttered, sitting back down, looking, inasmuch as Sonic could tell, rather embarrassed at having said so much.

Terry looked between the two of them curiously, then shrugged and dropped a pile of magazines on a nearby table.

"Latest batch of wide-eyed theories for you," he said. "And how's my sunniest-natured patient today? Walking around when he shouldn't be I see."

The tension was broken and Sonic grinned. Terry had recently adopted his own successful strategy for handling Knuckles' unveiled discontent, which entailed ignoring it completely.

Knuckles scowled at him, but there wasn't much feeling in it and he seemed, if anything, rather relieved to have the subject changed.

* * *

_'Not good',_ was the least of it, if Knuckles was honest with himself. The link he sensed between the Emeralds felt taut, strained almost to snapping point. Or was that merely his own strung-out nerves at being trapped in this alien place? Some echo of his own unease at being so far from the Floating Island and Master Emerald?

He couldn't be certain, and the uncertainty itself nagged and chafed at him, until he wanted to lash out at something, anything, just to distract himself from it for a while.

Much to his disgust he found himself _hoping_ Robotnik still had the Emeralds--at least he was a known quantity. Knuckles couldn't remember how much, if anything, he might have told to his captors but he knew he'd told them about Sonic in spite of not wanting to, so he had to accept that he may have said more.

What might he have answered? What questions would it have taken? _"How did you get here?"_ maybe? If he had answered, would his explanation, babbled through drugs and pain, have made enough sense for them to figure out that these "Chaos Emeralds" might be something worth having?

A sudden burst of restlessness drove him abruptly to his feet only to gasp and sit back down as a lancing pain shot up from his foot. Clearly that little stamp across the room and back had been a bad idea. The two humans and Sonic stared at him. He glared back, and offered no explanation.

What was driving him to distraction as much as anything else was Sonic's apparent complete lack of urgency. True, he complained at not being able to get outside and run, but largely he seemed to be treating this as some sort of vacation.

Knuckles however was unable to shake off a constant nagging sense that he was in the wrong place, doing the wrong thing--or at least not enough of the right things, and plagued by thoughts of all that could be happening back on the undefended Floating Island. Every minute's delay seemed to conjure up some new possible threat, and there wasn't even any guarantee they'd get back at all.

He should never have left. Shouldn't have let himself be drawn into Sonic's fight.

Guilt.That's what the feeling was. He may as well admit it to himself if no one else. Even though out loud he'd blamed Sonic, it was he who felt guilty.

Guilty for not having reached Robotnik in time to stop him. Guilty for having let the Emeralds be scattered for Robotnik to steal. A litany of failures, right back to guilt for not having recognised Robotnik's intentions when he first crashed on the Floating Island.

Even guilt over his recent weakness in captivity, at having given away Sonic's presence. Regardless of the fact it had turned out not to matter--he'd made a decision not to reveal it and had failed to carry it through.

_Stop_, he told himself firmly. This line of thought was going nowhere. He forced himself to stop casting about for things he could have done differently. Things he'd change. It was difficult to put the thoughts aside, but he'd had a lot of practice. Living completely alone you learned how easily the mind could run itself in circles--run itself ragged. You learned to control it if you didn't want to go mad through it. You learned when to let things go.

_Let it go_, he told himself now, shutting his eyes and forcing his breathing to slow.

"Hey, you all right?" It was Terry who'd spoken but the other were moving towards him too when Knuckles' eyes flew open again. He grimaced. Of course one of the advantages of living completely alone was you had peace and quiet when you were trying to pull yourself together.

"Fine," he snapped, aware that he was failing to keep the annoyance from his voice. "Just tired."

Sonic gave him a sceptical look, the admission too unusual to be believable. Knuckles returned his gaze, silently daring him to challenge the statement.

"I'm afraid that's to be expected," Terry said, not noticing this byplay. He gestured at the magazines and newspapers. "We'll shift this stuff downstairs, so you can get some rest shall we?"

"Thank you." Knuckles inclined his head stiffly.

Sonic held his gaze a moment longer, clearly itching to say something, then shrugged.

"Sleep tight."

* * *

A few hours later, Knuckles felt he had himself more under control and was able to respond impassively to Sonic's mocking tone when the hedgehog entered.

"Feeling in a better mood after our nap are we?"

Knuckles turned from the window where he'd been staring out.

"Yes." He was quietly amused at the flicker of frustration across Sonic's face at this lack of reaction, and continued in the same composed tone. "It was helpful in reducing the urge to--how did you phrase it--'beat seven shades out of people'."

Sonic gave a little snort of laughter and moved past Knuckles to look out of the window himself.

"Not much fun waiting around like this is it?" he said without turning around.

Knuckles shot a startled glance at the hedgehog's back.

"No," he allowed. "It isn't."

Sonic spun back to face him, the momentary quietness vanished.

"Nyah, it won't be for long. Wherever Robotnik landed he won't be able to resist shoving his oar in. And as soon as he does we'll be there." He grinned. "Right?"

Knuckles regarded him, marvelling at his confidence. Wishing he could share it. He settled for inclining his head in a nod.

"We will."

---End Part 5---


	6. Chapter 6

High in the Tornado, Tails flew slow steep turns at the outer boundary of Robtnik's perimeter. He'd been crisscrossing back and forth for almost an hour and seen nothing. More to the point, nothing seemed to have seen him. Not so much as a single potshot had been fired.

Tails knew he should get back and let the others know what he'd seen. He pulled up into another turn, climbing and doubling back on himself. He rolled out level, facing back along his course, and in spite of the situation felt a moment's pleasure at the manoeuvre. Wingovers were difficult to fly accurately and the concentration required made it easier not to worry himself into a lather about Sonic and Knuckles' disappearance.

A disappearance which it was looking more and more likely had included Robotnik.

Tails sighed, pushed the controls full over and kicked the rudder. The plane banked hard around and darted away from the perimeter. He spent the rest of the flight back trying not to speculate and when the wheels touched down and the motion changed from gliding through the air to bumping across the grass he felt his heart sink with it.

Amy ran across to meet him. "Did you see anything?"

Tails shook his head. "Nothing. The place looked almost abandoned."

Amy frowned. "But that doesn't make sense. If anything had happened. If Sonic..." she trailed off, unable to voice the fear that all of them felt. "Robotnik wouldn't keep quiet about it would he?"

"Unless whatever happened, happened to Robotnik too," Tails voiced the theory he'd come to. It wasn't a much more pleasant thought, but it was the only one that fit.

* * *

General Whitman strode into the briefing .

"If this is some sort of joke, I really don't have time for it," he announced.

The rotund man waiting there rose confidently from his seat, disdainful of the armed guards who trailed behind Whitman.

"Ivo Robotnik," he introduced himself. "And lack of time is a something else we have in common."

Whitman eyed him. Strange attire, and outlandish hair not withstanding, there was a certain poise about the man which told him this was no prank or hoax.

"So what else is it you think we have in common?" he asked, willing to go along for the moment.

"The other things," the man, Robotnik, regarded Whitman, equally as poker-faced, "Or should I say, the other individuals, you already know or you wouldn't have come in person at my mention of them to your--" he cast a scornful look at the guards, "--underlings."

Whitman couldn't be drawn in that easily. "If you'd read the papers you'd know that all this talk of aliens has nothing to do with us. This country's military does not engage in holding little green men prisoner."

"Red," Robotnik corrected easily. "And blue. And the fact you failed to hold them is a disappointment, though I I must admit I've encountered the same difficulty myself. But let us not talk of the idle speculation of your papers. Let us talk, as I said, of the things we have in common."

"Talk then. Are you claiming to be from the same world as these--" Whitman narrowed his eyes. "--a_lleged_ aliens?"

Robotnik resumed his seat. "As I understand it is a question not of distance but of dimension. This is less another world than it is another _version_ of the world." He rested his elbows on the table. "Are you a man of science General Whitman?"

"No," Whitman said bluntly.

"A pity. Still, for the purpose of your question, yes, I am from the same 'world' as your erstwhile guest and his compatriot. Indeed I am a figure of some authority there and these two, along with a band of like-minded troublemakers have caused me a certain amount of trouble."

He paused expectantly for a reaction, but not receiving one, continued. "It was in attempting to construct a defence against their incursions I began the experiment which resulted in our unintentional arrival here. Unfortunately for both worlds, it was not complete when they attacked and in its half finished state somehow flung the three of us to this dimension."

Whitman grunted. "All right. Suppose I believe you. Why come to me?"

"Simple," Robotnik smiled at Whitman. "As I said, we have something in common. We both want Sonic and Knuckles captured before they do any harm. Naturally I understand you have no more reason to trust me than you do to trust them. But I, unlike them, am prepared to bargain. I have looked at the technology of your world with an eye to comparing it with my own and I believe there are a number of areas where I could offer useful expertise."

"And once they're captured?" Whitman asked. "You'll take them back with you?"

Robotnik gave a small shrug. "Naturally I will want to return to my own world. Dragging a couple of violent criminals along with me is an unfortunate duty. I would not, of course, leave them here to cause you trouble."

"I think," Whitman spoke slowly, "That we may want to hold them ourselves. They have after all committed crimes here as well."

Robotnik smiled agreeably. "Well, I'm sure we can come to an agreement." He stood and reached out his hand. "Can I count on your support when you take this to your superiors?"

Whitman shook Robotnik's hand. "Absolutely."

* * *

Sonic stared down at the magazine, then snuck a glance across the room at Knuckles, who was staring out of the window again.

Sonic read a bit further then snorted out loud, unable to contain himself.

"Hey, Knux, you've got an admirer!"

Knuckles turned from the window and Sonic gleefully spun the page around for the whole room to see.

_The Man Who Arrested An Alien_, read the headline. A large bold type inset added, _"He seemed like a nice guy but didn't like museli"_

"That's the cop who sent the pictures to the paper?" Chris asked.

"What?" Knuckles crossed the room, affronted dignity vying with a still pronounced limp to produce an awkward sort of quickstep.

"Hey at least he think you're a good guy," Sonic commented.

Chuck took the magazine from Sonic and looked it over before handing it to Terry. "I wouldn't worry," the vet said after a glance. "It's not a very reputable publication. I shouldn't think anyone other than its usual subscribers would believe it."

Knuckles snatched the magazine and looked through the article, his glare deepening. Finally he flung it back at Sonic.

"Read the last bit!"

Sonic scanned to the bottom of the second page.

_Next Issue: Exclusive Interview with the Military's Alien Doctor_. The quote read, "_I couldn't believe what I was seeing."_

Knuckles made a sound very close to a snarl and Sonic looked quickly back up at him.

"Uh, Knuckles, you're not thinking of doing anything--hasty-are you?"

Knuckles fists clenched at his sides. "You were there, Sonic! In that laboratory, you saw what he'd been doing. In fact--" He brought his fist down hard on the coffee-table, splintering it, "You, and him," he jerked his head at Terry, "probably know more about what he did than I do because I all remember is--" He broke off and spun away. Sonic waved at the three humans to leave then jumped up to grab Knuckles before another piece of furniture bit the dust.

"Just listen a minute," he said, almost into Knuckles' ear. "I met him too. In the compound, when I came to look for you. He told me where you were." Knuckles stilled but Sonic didn't let go until he'd finished speaking. "He was upset about what happened."

Knuckles did snarl then. "Didn't stop him though did it? He was the one with the drugs. The one who did just enough 'doctoring' to keep me awake to be asked questions."

He stepped back from Sonic and visibly tried to rein in his anger. When he spoke again his voice was low, tightly controlled.

"I need to know what I told them, Sonic. I am going to find him. Are you going to try to stop me?"

Sonic didn't miss the subtle emphasis on _try_ but ignored it and asked quietly in return, "Are you going to try to kill him?"

Knuckles baulked slightly at the direct question, Sonic was pleased to note. At least he hadn't immediately yelled, "Yes!"

They stared at each other for several long seconds. Knuckles lowered his eyes first.

"If that's the compromise it'll take to keep you from interfering? Then no. I will not kill him. Satisfied?"

"Almost," said Sonic. "I'm coming with you."

"No."

"Stop me," challenged Sonic. He watched Knuckles glare at him and could almost tally up the various methods he considered for shaking him off. Most of course had been tried before and Knuckles clearly came to the same conclusion because he sighed heavily.

"Where is this magazine based?" he asked in lieu of actually conceding.

Sonic grinned and retrieved the magazine from the floor where it had fallen.

"It's our lucky day huh?--It's right here in town!"

---End Part 6---


	7. Chapter 7

"I look ridiculous." Knuckles spotted Chris' attempts not to giggle and scowled.

"Yep." Sonic agreed with complete unconcern. "We both look ridiculous. Better ridiculous than shot on sight."

They were both clad in nondescript human clothes, complete with hooded jackets. It wasn't much of a disguise. One good look from the front would be enough to give them away, but it might ward off a couple of casual glances and add a small extra margin of stealth.

Chuck was going to drop them off in the right neighbourhood but they hardly wanted to stand around in plain sight.

He'd offered to take them right to the door, but they'd all agreed it was better if he, Chris and Terry remained unconnected with them as far as possible. Sonic didn't want to put them in danger, and Knuckles, more pragmatically, didn't want to lose their bolthole. In fact it was that argument which finally swayed the three humans who had all been protesting that they wanted to help in spite of any danger.

"Shall we move?" Sonic gestured at the door. Knuckles grumbled something more about the outfits but crossed the room to join him.

* * *

It took them a good hour to get from the car to the alleyway which housed the seedy looking offices of the magazine. They'd moved through the shadows along the rooftops and now Knuckles clung to the wall a dozen yards up from the door. 

Humans didn't look up much, he realised. Maybe it came from not having any native flying species. Or at least, not any intelligent ones. They also seemed to be sufficiently inured to their technology that aircraft overhead were also ignored. He made a mental note that these were useful things to know.

Right now it was more than useful. Knuckles held his breath trying to remain silent. He didn't think the 'not looking up' characteristic would be enough to prevent someone investigating a noise from above their head. He felt Sonic shift and wished he could shout at him to keep still. They could probably easily subdue the small group who both looked and--even from this distance--smelled drunk, but it might rouse others. Draw attention. All things they didn't need.

The group moved on and Knuckles exhaled. He watched them out of sight then resumed the climb down into the alleyway. He dropped back to the pavement and Sonic let go. They stood in front of the nondescript door and Knuckles' eyes flicked to the number.

"Knock knock, who's there," Sonic sang out.

Knuckles glanced at him irritably and jabbed a finger sharply at the security camera mounted at the top of the jamb.

"Whoever's there already knows we're here." He drew back a fist and delivered a hammerlike blow to the door, and was through it even as it buckled, heedless of whether Sonic followed or not.

He screwed up his eyes against the light and his ears were assailed by the screaming of an alarm and the jabbering of a slender human who was backing away rapidly, quite evidently terrified. Knuckles stalked forward, following him until the human's knees hit a piece of furniture and he went over backwards.

Knuckles kicked the low table aside and in that second caught movement from the corner of his eye. It was a second too late and blackness exploded behind his eyes.

* * *

He woke to the muffled sounds of a conversation. An unfamiliar, mildly reproachful voice was saying, "It's not like I don't appreciate the rescue, Frankie, but you couldn't have managed it without bashing his brains out?" 

"Yeah, well in case you hadn't noticed, Lee, his pal there didn't have to flatten me either."

"Excuse me?" Sonic's voice this time. "You _had_ just whacked my friend there over the head with a bat. What'd you expect--a bunch of flowers?"

Knuckles opened his eyes, to find himself lying on a long couch. Sonic was sitting at the other end of it between him and the thin human. The other human, the one who had presumably attacked him was sitting in a chair across from the righted table, holding a bag of ice to the back of his head.

"This is becoming a habit, Sonic." Knuckles growled. "Would you care to explain?"

"Remember how we discussed not beating seven shades out of people before finding out whether they're enemies or not?" Sonic said in a mock-chiding tone. "Turns out you're not the only one who could take it to heart."

Knuckles was not amused. "Where's your _doctor_?" he demanded of the humans.

"We don't know," Lee, the thin one, said. "He never gave us an address. He was afraid the military would come after him."

"They'll have to get in line!"

Sonic interrupted before Knuckles could elaborate. "How did you get the interview then?"

"We--" Lee started then cut short at a sharp glance from Frankie across the table.

Knuckles looked between the two humans trying to figure out what was going on.

"You haven't done it yet!" Sonic said suddenly. "Have you?"

Lee looked miserable. Knuckles pushed himself up off the couch. "Answer him."

"No," he admitted. "He's supposed to come here. He didn't half take some convincing."

Frankie groaned.

"Good." Knuckles sat back. "We'll all follow Sonic's example and _make friends_ while we wait shall we?"

* * *

In defiance of the oddness of the situation, Lee had made drinks. Sonic had drunk three hot chocolates on the trot, smacking his lips loudly in appreciation. Knuckles suspected he was doing it just to annoy him. At least they had both been able to shed the ludicrous looking disguises now they were safely inside. 

Frankie clattered his spoon against the cup, nervously, then looked at Knuckles.

"So, uh--I don't suppose you want to give us _your_ side of the story, for the mag?"

Knuckles stared at him, momentarily incredulous.

"Yes, all right" he snapped. "Shall I start with the bit where I was electrocuted and shot or skip straight to the part where your interviewee and his friends had me strapped to a table in a laboratory?"

In as far as Knuckles could read human expressions, which wasn't well, Frankie looked downcast by this retort.

"Yeah, Dr Fielding said something like that happened."

"Military," Lee snorted. "Only way they know to handle anything. We've been saying it for years."

Knuckles caught Sonic's eye. In their scouring of the fringe press they'd read a number of the things that these two had 'been saying for years', and most of it was a lot more outlandish. Alien spaceships kidnapping people, secret government plots, conspiracy theories, the lot. Knuckles sincerely doubted anyone would take this latest any more seriously.

"When is this Fielding supposed to turn up?" Knuckles returned to the main point.

"Any time now," Lee assured him. "When the door went, we thought at first it was him, 'til we saw the camera feed." He shifted and grimaced. "Look you're not going to --do-- anything to him are you? I mean--"

"We just want to talk to him," Sonic cut in.

Knuckles raised his eyebrows at the 'we' but didn't correct it. He got up and paced around the room with slow, measured strides, ignoring the twinge in his ribs from the climb and the steady throbbing from his foot.

"So much for protecting our sources," Frankie muttered.

The harsh squawk of the doorbell made everyone turn.

"Take it easy, Knuckles," Sonic came to his feet, a warning tone in his voice.

"I gave you my word, hedgehog, you don't need to interfere." Knuckles stalked to the door without giving Sonic a glance. He flung it open, grabbed the arm of the man waiting there and hauled him inside.

"Have a seat." He shoved Fielding roughly towards one of the armchairs, where he collapsed, wide-eyed. Then he turned to Sonic and the other two humans. "Get out. This is no one else's business."

Sonic hesitated and for a moment Knuckles thought he would refuse. He gritted his teeth. He couldn't do this with spectators. It was humiliating enough that he had to hear it himself. That he couldn't even remember and had to ask.

_Good at that though aren't you? _a tiny, treacherous corner of his mind put in. _Forgetting things you can't handle. Got that one down to a fine art_.

He forced himself to meet Sonic's eyes.

"Please," he ground out. Sonic looked slightly startled at that then nodded and waved his hands at the two humans still standing.

"Okay, you two, shift." He looked back at Knuckles. "We'll be in the next room."

Knuckles nodded curtly, hearing the unspoken support.

He stepped back so he was directly in front of the seated Fielding. The man quailed.

"What do you want?"

Knuckles snorted. "To find the scum that brought us here and get home. But short term, what I want from _you_ is to find out how much Whitman knows."

Knuckles paused then forced the words out. "How much I told him."

"Oh," Fielding swallowed. "Most of it didn't make any sense anyway..."

"I don't care. Tell me."

"Well, Whitman already knew about--" Fielding's eyes flicked to the door that Sonic had just exited thorough. "I don't think you told us anything new, except to call him by name. It took us a little while to figure that 'Sonic' _was_ a name--you weren't very coherent."

Fielding plaited his fingers in his lap and didn't look up, so Knuckles' curled lip went unseen.

"He asked about how you got here. You said it was an accident, an experiment. He asked what type of experiment but you kept saying you didn't know. He didn't believe you, he asked me about drugs. I said I didn't know enough about your body chemistry, that it would be dangerous." Fielding looked up briefly. "He didn't care. I thought about-- But-- I used--"

Fielding's rapid recitation stumbled and he stared at his hands.

"I don't care what you thought! Or what you used," Knuckles snapped. "Just tell me what he found out."

"You talked about emeralds," Fielding said, talking quickly again. "You said it shouldn't have worked. Something about them being unstable. It didn't make sense. Whitman kept coming back to it. What did gemstones have to do with anything? We thought it must be a bad reaction to the drug, that you were hallucinating. He asked where it was you'd come from and you started on about an island. Um."

Fielding looked abashed. "An island that floated in the sky you said. He tried to ask the name of your planet, but that's all you'd talk about was this island. He gave up then, started yelling at me that he didn't have time to listen to nonsense. But I'd warned him I didn't know if the drug would work. He told me to find something that would. Then he left. It was that night your friend turned up."

"That's it?" Knuckles said, wary of the relief that threatened to sweep over him. "That's all of it?"

Fielding nodded. "There's something else you should know though. There's--"

The door burst open.

--End part 7---


	8. Chapter 8

Sonic lingered just the other side of office door, his ears pricked for any noise that would indicate Knuckles had failed to keep his temper after all.

He could hear Knuckles' growl and the human's nervous chatter without being able to make out the words. So far it seemed to be going more or less okay.

"Uh," Lee taped him on the shoulder. "We've got that room wired for sound. We could..." he gestured vaguely. "If you're worried."

"No," Sonic said firmly.

Quite aside from the fact the Knuckles would in all probability rip all of them limb from limb if he found them eavesdropping, Sonic found he had no desire to hear it. The scattered snatches he'd overhead as Knuckles slept through the days after the escape had been more than enough.

Knuckles' voice rose and Sonic was halfway to the door before it subsided.

Things quietened after that.

For about half a minute.

Then the relative calm was broken by an almighty crash and the staccato of weapons fire.

Sonic spun back into the room without bothering to open the door first. He saw Knuckles drop onto an armed soldier who was halfway through the door. The man behind him hesitated, both his comrade and Knuckles in his line of fire and Sonic leapt at him before he made up his mind whether or not to shoot. The weapon clattered under a table across the room.

"More behind him!" Knuckles dragged the next man through and slammed him against the door jamb.

"I've got it covered." Sonic zipped around the doorway, which was acting as a bottleneck, felling anyone who stepped through. Unfortunately there seemed to be a near endless supply. "You want to arrange another exit, Knux? These guys seem to have a lot of friends."

Knuckles dropped the unconscious soldier and sprinted through the offices to the back of the building. "Where does this come out?" he demanded of Lee and Frankie as he passed them.

"Just some alley."

"It'll do." Knuckles raised both fists and smashed the requested extra exit out of the wall.

"Sonic!" he called over his shoulder. "Let's move it!"

"Fielding." The doctor was lying face down behind the couch. Sonic turned from the door. "Time to go."

A drumming roar filled the room.

"Chopper on the roof!" Fielding jumped to his feet in alarm and turned to run.

"Keep your head down!" Sonic yelled. Gunfire filled the room as Sonic left the door untended. He vaulted the couch. "Get down!"

Fielding dropped, and it Sonic a moment to realise that it wasn't in response to his instruction. Blood spread across the grubby carpet. Far too much to even question whether he'd survived it.

Sonic cast a glance back at the troops swarming through the door and ran for the back room.

Knuckles was standing in the alley the other side of the gaping hole in the wall. Lee and Frankie hovered beside him looking undecided whether to run for it or not.

He quirked his head sideways at seeing Sonic alone. Sonic shook his head shortly.

"They've got airborne troops on the roof," he said. "And a dozen more on their way through. We'll be followed."

"We won't be." Knuckles scrambled up the wall and smashed out half an upstairs wall. The rumble cascaded down, blocking the hole they'd fled through. Without looking back, he continued his climb upwards.

"Let's go." Sonic told Lee and Frankie.

"What about Fielding?" Lee asked.

Sonic shook his head again. Then he took both Lee and Frankie by the arm.

"Just try and keep up okay? I'll do the rest."

Lee looked up towards the roof.

"Knuckles'll follow," Sonic assured him. "But we need to be away from here before the local police turn up as well. Few minutes time this place is going to be teeming."

Behind and above them a series of bangs and the sudden orange light of flames indicated that Knuckles had seen to the rest of the pursuit.

"Ready?" Sonic asked.

"What are you going to--"

Sonic's acceleration left the rest of the question behind.

When he came to a halt several streets away the humans collapsed in a heap.

"What the hell was that?" Frankie managed.

Sonic gave a tiny smirk. "That was me going slow enough for you two to still be in one piece."

"Jeez-louise," Lee said. "I think I'm going to be sick."

"They killed Fielding." Frankie said flatly. "Didn't they?"

"Yeah," Sonic said, sobering.

Lee shook his head. "He was so afraid. He expected something like this."

"Do you have somewhere safe you can go?" Sonic asked.

"Yes," Frankie said, though he looked shaken, and Lee was white faced. "We know a few people who can keep quiet."

"Good. I suggest you sit on this particular story for a while. Lay low."

"We'll be careful," Frankie said. Which wasn't quite agreement, Sonic noticed.

"Do that," he settled for.

The two humans walked away, heading for the more populated streets to lose themselves among the evening drinkers.

After a moment watching them, Sonic turned, as Knuckles landed, almost silently, behind him.

"Getting sharper, hedgehog."

Sonic ignored the remark.

"Fielding's dead," he said instead.

"So I gather." Knuckles' expression was unreadable. "One of their own." He looked about. "We need to get out of sight."

"We need to get out of town," Sonic corrected. "I'm not having anyone else getting killed 'cause we're around."

"They didn't expect to find us there," Knuckles said. "They'd have come in more numbers if they had. We handled more than that back at the base. They'd followed Fielding."

"That's what worries me. Why go to all trouble that to keep him quiet?" Sonic pointed at some empty buildings at the end of the alley and started towards them.

Knuckles followed him inside. "He didn't _have_ to talk to anyone about it."

"He's not the only one who did though. What about your breakfast waiter friend?"

Knuckles scowled. "I'm not running round playing bodyguard to a gossipy human, Sonic. In case you haven't noticed Robotnik is still out there!"

Sonic whirled to face him. "And in _case_ you haven't noticed, we're no closer to finding him. And in the meantime one person's already dead because of us!"

Knuckles flared instantly, "He--"

"He what?" Sonic cut him off. "Go ahead and finish. He what? Deserved it? For having a boss who roughed you up a bit and hurt your precious pride? And does the cop deserve it too--for being unlucky enough to meet you on his patrol? Do Chuck and Terry deserve it for getting roped in? Does Chris?"

"That's not the same and you know it!"

"Do I? Well I'll tell you something else I know. I know that I sat awake the whole time you were delirious there because I was afraid you were going to smash their heads in for just being the same species."

Sonic paused.

"And I know that you owe me for getting you out of that base. And I know that _you_ know it."

Even as the words left his mouth, Sonic felt a guilty twist in his stomach at so abusing Knuckles' innate sense of honour. His second thought was to duck for cover as he'd clearly pushed him too far. Knuckles looked on the very brink of hitting him. Then he lowered his fists.

"I see." He limped towards the building. "We keep the cop alive. We find Robotnik. Then we're even. Then we're through."

"Knuckles--" Sonic started, not certain whether he meant to apologise or argue further. In either case, the look the echidna turned on him was so cold that he changed it to, "--I checked up with the magazine guys where to find him."

Knuckles nodded brusquely but didn't comment.

---End Part 8---


	9. Chapter 9

Knuckles shrieked and the recording crackled with white noise as the volume overwhelmed the pickups. Robotnik looked up from where he'd been taking notes and tapped the desk in annoyance.

"Play that bit again."

Whitman scowled, unimpressed with his sudden demotion to PA, and wound back a few seconds.

"We've done this ourselves," he said. "It's nothing coherent."

"Nothing coherent to you," Robotnik corrected him. "But then you thought the Floating Island was some delirious imagining. There may be other, more specific data you've missed."

There was a knock of the door and Whitman stopped the playback and turned.

"Enter."

A lieutenant pushed the door open and saluted. "Sir."

"Go ahead."

"Dr Fielding is dead, sir. He was killed in the operation. When we arrived at the magazine offices the uh--" He cast a glance at Robotnik sitting behind Whitman. "--aliens--were there too. There was a firefight when they attempted to escape with Fielding."

"They were armed?" Whitman asked.

The soldier frowned then composed himself. "No, sir. But they did put up considerable resistance."

Robotnik chuckled slightly. "They are generally good at that."

"Any casualties?" Whitman asked.

"No fatalities, sir. Some injuries, mainly concussions. A broken shoulder. We lost the chopper."

Whitman pursed his lips. Robotnik waved a hand dismissively.

"It doesn't matter. For our purposes, dead is as good as recovered. The main thing is that the existence of the Chaos Emeralds remains classified." He grinned up at the lieutenant who was now looking determinedly disinterested. "Isn't that right?"

"Sir?"

Whitman scowled. "Dismissed!" he snapped. The soldier saluted and left as fast as respectfully possible.

Whitman turned back to Robotnik. "Was that necessary?"

Robotnik smiled. "It never hurts to remind your staff of the perils of disloyalty I find."

Whitman grunted noncommittally. "So what about this police officer?" He indicated the recording, "Given what it took to extract what little data we managed, I doubt very much Knuckles told him anything."

"I agree." Robotnik said. "But it may be worth keeping an eye on him anyway." He tapped his fingers on the table. "Why do you think Sonic and Knuckles were at the magazine?"

"I haven't the faintest idea," said Whitman. "You're supposed to be the one who knows all about them, why don't you tell me?"

Robotnik smirked. "Very well. I think they were there to eliminate the evidence of their presence here, starting with those who know about it."

"Why?" Whitman asked. "What good would that do them?"

"As I told you--they are wanted criminals on my world. Where better to escape to than a planet where no one knows they even exist?"

Whitman thought about it. "Maybe. So you think they may try to attack the police officer too?"

"I think it's almost certain."

"I'll get someone on it."

"Good." Robotnik returned his attention to the transcript. "Now play that section again."

* * *

Sonic reduced his speed to match Knuckles as they ran across the rooftops. Neither of them commented on the fact that progress had been getting steadily slower for the past half an hour.

Knuckles was tense and silent, and it wasn't until he missed an easy jump from one building to the next, and was only saved from a long fall by hasty glide and a scramble up the wall that Sonic realised how badly he was now limping.

Since Knuckles continued as though nothing had happened, Sonic ignored the missed jump and ran on a few paces before stopping and plonking himself down on the raised metal edge of a skylight.

"Something in my shoe," he lied, pulling one off.

Knuckles gave him a suspicious stare but took the opportunity to lean against a nearby heating duct and take the weight off his injured foot.

Sonic made a bit of a business of emptying out his shoe and feeling about in it for an imaginary stone before casually waving at Knuckles.

"How's your foot?"

Knuckles stood up straighter and said shortly. "Fine."

"It looks it." Sonic shot back with unabashed irony. "And I suppose that little detour via a midair drop back there was just for the climbing practice?"

"Maybe I stumbled because I had _something in my shoe,_" Knuckles snapped, shooting Sonic a look that said he wasn't fooled at all by this byplay.

He stared Sonic straight in the eye and walked a few steps towards him, even and steady without a trace of a limp. He then gestured in the direction they'd been running.

"Well, hedgehog?"

But Sonic had seen the echidna bluff before. He'd seen him back down an uninjured enemy when all that was keeping him on his own feet was willpower. He knew where to look for the telltale tension lines around his eyes and the slight stiffness in his movements.

In short, he knew him too well to be fooled.

He also knew him too well to admit this and have it denied.

He shrugged instead.

"We don't have to get there tonight." He looked up at the, still dark, sky. "It'll be getting light soon, we should find somewhere to lay low."

"You're the one who wants to get there at all," Knuckles said.

He didn't press the point, however and when Sonic decided on a suitably sheltered spot, he sank swiftly to the concrete after no more than a cursory glance around.

"Since this excursion is your project, you can have the first watch," he said.

Sonic nodded, willing enough. That was a small enough concession if it meant not ending up carrying Knuckles again.

* * *

Knuckles slept fitfully, waking to watch the moon set. The lights of the alien city gave it a sickly orange cast, so unlike the clear night skies of the Island that he had to look away and was grateful when the sun rose and he could curl up and shut his eyes against it.

When a decent enough interval had passed that he could reasonably claim he'd rested, he stood up and walked carefully to where Sonic was sitting in the shade from some sort of air intake. He looked up as Knuckles approached and gave an exaggerated yawn.

"My turn?"

Knuckles gave a short nod and turned away as Sonic stretched out where he was.

He wandered to the edge of the roof and settled himself, looking out and down at the teeming city. Noise from the vehicles below filtered up even at this height.

He'd sat like this occasionally at the edge of the Island looking down at the places below. He'd liked it best at night when instead of the sprawl of towns there were just the lights. Pinpoints in the darkness, almost a match to the stars overhead. Cities turned into constellations.

The writings on the Island told him his people had gone to the stars. Had they found somewhere to recreate the imposing beauty of the Island? Or worlds like this one? Hostile and crowded?

Maybe they wandered still. Or maybe their journey had ended not in a new world but in disaster and he was not merely the last on Mobius, but the last of all.

He shook his head firmly. These were nighttime thoughts. Rambling and self-pitying. They contributed nothing to the task in hand and had no place in the daylight with the sun beating down. He drew his feet up to sit cross legged and cast a glance over his shoulder at Sonic.

The hedgehog was sprawled on the warm tarmac with his eyes shut, though the lack of snoring suggested he wasn't as asleep as he looked and indeed it was barely dusk before he was back on his feet.

"A fine sight you'll make for anyone down there," he commented, joining Knuckles at the edge.

"No one here looks up," Knuckles said flatly. "And we're too high, they couldn't recognise me."

Sonic peered over the edge.

"Bit of a different view from home, huh?"

That was such a blatantly obvious comment that Knuckles couldn't muster even an angry reply. He couldn't quite understand why Sonic was trying to make casual conversation at all. He'd known well enough what he was saying last night, he couldn't be so callow as to expect him to just shrug that off. To ignore it and act as if he was here by choice rather obligation?

Something about Knuckles' silence must have penetrated though because Sonic turned and headed back across the roof.

"It's this way."

* * *

Even on the move, Knuckles' cold silence was oppressive and Sonic was afraid he might have actually gone too far this time. He'd come pretty close to the mark before with Knuckles. He'd insulted him and made jokes about the Island and the Emeralds and mocked his ability to take care of either, and nearly got thumped for his trouble any number of times. He'd used everything short of bribery and blackmail to get Knuckles to help out against Robotnik, and sometimes it had been not _very_ far short of either.

Ultimately though, even if neither of them would ever admit the fact, it had always been tacitly understood that Knuckles only helped when he chose to. More often than not, he helped in spite of, rather than because of Sonic's cajolery.

Not this time. This time he clearly felt he'd been backed into a corner. And he resented it. Of course he did.

_He could have said no_, Sonic told himself._ He did claim he had a plan all along for getting away from the base without my help._

But no, Knuckles would have seen that as wriggling out of a debt, Sonic realised. Or maybe was afraid other people would see it as wriggling out. Maybe he thought that was worse.

Sonic knew Knuckles thought he was feckless, irresponsible, childish--in short, all the things the echidna prided himself on _not_ being--but contrary to appearances Sonic was thoroughly familiar with the idea of obligation.

He fought Robotnik not just for the challenge--though he wouldn't deny that was part of it--but because he was one of the ones that could. That he was also one of the ones that could move fast enough to be out of reach of trouble and relaxing somewhere far away was not something he considered relevant.

He didn't think of it in any sort of moral stance, it was simply fair play. You _could_ do something to help, so you _did_.

That seemed to work well enough at home, he saw no reason to change it it. He did feel the occasional pang when he thought of how worried Tails and the others back on Mobius must be but he also knew that beating himself into a mental pulp would not make the blindest bit of difference to them from here.

You did what you could. And right now he could do nothing for them, but he could stop someone else getting hurt because of him. And so could Knuckles, willing or not.

He'd try and resolve that later.

If he could.

---End part 9---


	10. Chapter 10

"Same again?" Sonic asked once they were standing on the rooftop of the apartment block. He pulled open a doorway in a small structure to reveal a set of stairs leading down.

"Through the front door didn't work that well last time," Knuckles pointed out.

Sonic shrugged and grinned. "Practice makes perfect. Coming?"

"I didn't think I had a choice."

Instead of answering Sonic started down the stairs three at a time.

They emerged in a drab corridor. It was currently deserted, probably due to the early hour. Sonic read the number on the first door.

"This floor I think. Must be further along."

Eventually they located the correct door and Sonic banged loudly on it.

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "Subtle."

There was no answer from the apartment.

"How inconsiderate." Knuckles leaned against the wall to wait. "It looks as though he hasn't waited around to be rescued."

"Or they got here already," Sonic said. "I'm going in."

He didn't wait for Knuckles' response before letting fly with a spindash at the door.

The first thing he noticed as he hurtled in was the officer from the newspaper photos standing in the middle of the room. The second was the instantly recognisable sound of weapons being readied. It made no difference that the type of weapon was unfamiliar, the situation was all too much so. He looked from the officer to the soldiers now standing either side of him.

"Well Knux, I guess you were right--he really isn't interested in being rescued." Sonic looked around. "Knuckles?"

"Freeze!" one of the soldiers ordered. "Get your hands up. Don't make any sudden moves."

"Sudden moves?" Sonic said, grinning as he raised his hands. "All my moves are sudden, pal. If I made any _really_ sudden moves, they'd be so sudden that you--"

The window behind the guards shattered. Several of them turned as Knuckles somersaulted in.

"Sorry," Sonic apologised to one of the few guards who hadn't been distracted. "Time for some sudden moves."

If anything the fight was easier than the one at the magazine. This time they'd come expecting trouble.

Once all the soldiers were unconscious, Sonic scrabbled around in the ruins of the apartment for anything worth using as rope to tie them up. Knuckles moved to guard the door, picking glass shards out of his quills as he went.

"Good of you to join us after all," Sonic said, tying up the last of the soldiers. "But I had it covered."

"I saw," Knuckles said. "Clearly you had them surrounded."

"And out-numbered," Sonic added, smirking. " Out-gunned. Out-witted." He stopped and added in a carefully casual tone. "Thanks anyway though."

Knuckles stared at him for long moments apparently searching for some further sign of mockery, but then jerked his head in a single nod.

"You gonna kill me?" The sudden silence was broken by the officer, who addressed himself to Knuckles. "I didn't do anything to you. I treated you okay, didn't I?"

Knuckles glared at him. "You electrocuted me. You locked me up. You handed me over to those--" Words failed him and he hissed in anger. "You can that 'not doing anything'?"

"What was I supposed to do?" The officer wasn't finished. "I didn't know what you were--you were just some crook in a street fight. Once we were back at the station it was my bosses call not mine. You gonna chase him down too?"

The similarity to Sonic's earlier remarks made Knuckles cast a sharp glance in his direction. Sonic raised his hands innocently, and intervened.

"Knuckles." Sonic interrupted. "This isn't what we're here for. Although," he turned. "I have to wonder, if you meant so well, why those guys were here waiting for us."

The man clammed up.

"Look, we're not here to hurt anyone," Sonic said, "What's your name?"

"Ramo," the man said, still watching Knuckles warily. "Sam Ramo."

Sonic had to forgive him his caution. Knuckles was pacing, somewhat lopsidedly, and looked as though he'd like nothing better than to prove Sonic a liar and starting doling out serious injuries all round.

"Knuckles," Sonic said with exaggerated patience. "Tell the nice policeman we're not going to hurt anyone."

Knuckles stopped. "Sonic isn't going to hurt anyone."

"Knuckles!"

The echidna curled his lip. "And neither am I."

Ramo looked understandably unconvinced, but he did move towards the sofa and sit down, though without taking his eyes off Knuckles.

"They said you'd come back. They said you'd try to kill me, that you'd already attacked someone else who found out about you."

"They're liars," Knuckles snarled. "I don't suppose they said--"

Ramo raised his voice to finish over Knuckles' indignation. "They said you were known criminals on your world!"

Sonic gave a bark of laughter. "Well that depends on your point of view."

Knuckles scowled at the levity. "I don't expect they told you where they came by that piece of fiction?" He turned his glare on Sonic. "Or occurred to you to wonder?"

Sonic gave an unhurried shrug. "Unless your general is feeling creative, only one person it could be isn't there?"

"Robotnik."

"Didn't I say he'd turn up sooner or later?"

"And he's working with these humans already." Knuckles said. "Are you still going to tell me they're not all that bad--it's not their fault?"

"Robotnik's a liar! And he's good at playing the nice guy when he's looking for allies." Sonic paused. He knew was going to get himself in deep water again, but he needed Knuckles' cooperation so he pressed on. "_You_ ought to remember that."

Knuckles physically flinched.

"You go too far, hedgehog."

"I'm not going out of my way to insult you, Knuckles," Sonic snapped. "But you were wrong about me then. You can be wrong about these people now. And they can be wrong about Robotnik."

Knuckles face was expressionless again.

"I am here, hedgehog. I am doing what you have asked me. Do not presume to tell me how to feel about it."

Soinc sighed. "Fine." He returned his attention to the more immediate problem and bounded over to one of the soldiers whow as starting to stir.

"Hey you, what's your boss up to huh?"

The man blinked groggily at him. "Simmons, sergeant, serial number one six--"

Sonic cut him off. "Never mind. We'll go and find out for ourselves shall we?"

He turned to Ramo. "Can you get out of town for now? I really don't think these guys had your best interests at heart y'know."

Ramo looked nervously around the ruin of his apartment. "I think you could be right," he said.

* * *

Knuckles watched Sonic foraging through the contents of Ramo's kitchen. The man himself had hastily packed a bag and left, a good half an hour ago.

"Why are we still here?" Knuckles demanded. "You realise they're bound to send more soldiers?"

"Not yet," Sonic said. "They don't know they've lost the last lot do they? How long do you reckon they thought it was going to take before we turned up? They won't even be looking yet."

Knuckles considered that a huge, unwarranted assumption, and said so.

Sonic shrugged and bit into a thick sandwich. "I didn't stay I was planning to set up a holiday home here. But even assuming Robotnik is at Whitman's base, that's hundreds of miles away and dinner was too long ago."

Treacherously, Knuckles' stomach rumbled in agreement.

Sonic mercifully either didn't notice or decided to ignore it. Instead he glanced upwards.

"I wonder if this lot had a helicopter too."

Knuckles had found some cereal in a cupboard and was picking half heartedly at it. "We'd have seen it on the roof. Do you even know how to fly one anyway?"

"I can fly the Tornado," Sonic said.

"That's not the same thing."

Sonic shoved the last of his sandwich in his mouth and chewed thoughtfully.

"No," he said eventually. "But it gives me an idea."

---End Part 10---


	11. Chapter 11

"We have to find out for certain!" The fox all but shouted, flicking his tails in such agitation that he was close to rising off the ground where he stood. "They could be caught or injured somewhere or..." He cast about for some other calamity short of death, and then deflated and settled for, "We have to find out, that's all."

"I don't disagree, Tails." Amy was maintaining her own calm with difficulty. "But we can't just waltz in to Robotnik's fortress without a plan."

Tails waved a hand dismissively. "I told you, I saw it, it was dead quiet. There--" He screwed up his face at realising what he'd said and faltered.

Amy leaned forward to squeeze his shoulder. "We'd have heard if they were dead, Tails." She bit her lip uncertainly. "We would."

She shook her head briskly. "Anyway, we should check the Floating island first."

"Amy--" Tails started to protest, still eager to go direct to what he saw as the source of the trouble.

"Robotnik's experiment was using the Emeralds he'd captured, right?" Amy reasoned aloud. "They may have needed the support of the Master Emerald to stop it. And if there was--" she hesitated, "--a _problem_, that's where they'd fall back to. It's more defensible, and it wouldn't risk leading Robotnik here."

Tails nodded, unable to argue with that logic though his reluctance was obvious, he clearly didn't expect to find anything on the Island.

They ran outside to where the Tornado sat on the grass.

Tails was silent during the flight up to the Island, though he leaned forward slightly in his seat, as though urging the aircraft on. Amy stared at his back and tried not to speculate about what they would find. She had another reason for coming here. One she hadn't voiced to Tails. Would Knuckles have come to them if anything had happened to Sonic? Would he not consider securing the Emeralds more important than involving anyone else or dealing with the emotional entanglements of breaking such news? She suspected so, but it seemed such a cold attitude that she hadn't mentioned it.

The Island looked as empty as ever as Tails set down gently on the grass. No watchful echidna descended on them from the clifftops or dashed up from one of the tunnels that riddled the place.

Knuckles' absence had Amy convinced within minutes that he wasn't here. He'd always seemed to have a sort of sixth sense for when people arrived on the Island.

"I don't think they're here," she said.

Tails looked at her quizzically, "Well we're here now. We should check, they could be underground, or in the Emerald Chamber."

"Alright," Amy allowed. That made sense after all. If the Floating Island was the fallback position the Master Emerald Chamber itself had to be the fallback of the fallback.

"Can you remember the way?" she asked.

"Ye-es," Tails said hesitantly, "But I've only ever been there with Knuckles, except that first time with Sonic. There's kind of a lot of stuff Knuckles knows how to work that he never showed us. Some of the security stuff is pretty dangerous, we only just made it on our own. If he's really not here--"

"We'll manage." Amy tried to sound confident. "Like you said, we're here now. We may as well check."

Tails shrugged. "Alright. Robotnik's fortress might have been the safer option though." He shivered suddenly. "Is it colder than usual?"

Amy looked around. "I didn't think the weather changed here."

A chilly wind swept down from the volcanic hills ahead.

Tails shrugged off the weather and pointed. "There's caves in the hills that lead down to the tunnels."

A deep chasm separated the gently sloping grass where they'd landed from the foothills. A rock bridge spanned it, the boulder-sized stones apparently floating unsuspended in the air.

"I don't like that look of that," Amy said.

"Well the whole Island floats, after all," Tails said, uncertainly. "No reason a little bridge shouldn't."

"Easy for you to say," Amy muttered. "Some of us can't fly if it all falls down."

She ventured a foot onto it as she spoke. Then stepped out a few paces, staying within grabbing distance of the edge. Tails didn't even attempt it, instead hopping into the air and hovering nervously alongside Amy as she walked cautiously out.

"Should I carry you?"

"Actually I think it's--" Abruptly the rocks tumbled away. Tails dived and grabbed both Amy's wrists before she could even cry out.

"On second thoughts, yes, I think you better had," she gasped. She twisted to look over her shoulder where, behind them, the boulders were slowly floating back to their original positions.

Tails lowered her back to solid ground and let go. She sighed with relief and rubbed her wrists. "No wonder Knuckles doesn't get many visitors."

Tails smiled but it turned into a frown as he headed towards the partially concealed cave entrance. Heat wafted out, a sharp contrast with the cold breeze. Amy wrinkled her nose at the sulphurous smell, and this time it was Tails who stepped forward first. He grabbed a branch of the stunted tree which half hid the mouth of the cave and snapped off a good length. Then he stepped inside.

He led the way through the twisty tunnels, albeit hesitantly, stopping frequently to peer down one turning or another or to probe the ground ahead with his stick.

The first time this caution triggered a dart to hurtle from the wall, they both jumped, then giggled at their own reaction, like kids in a haunted house. The danger didn't seem quite real.

That was, until the ground gave way under them.

Even Tails fell this time, twisting in the air in an attempt to catch his balance enough to fly. Before he managed it they both hit a flight of steps below.

"Ow," Tails managed, indistinctly.

"Ow," Amy agreed, picking herself up. "What a place to call home." She looked up at the hole through which they'd fallen, then along the passageway ahead. "So do we try to get back up or go on from here?"

"Back up I think," Tails said. "I haven't been down here before. That didn't happen last time I was here." He touched the walls curiously. They were oddly smooth, and when Amy reached out a hand to see what had caught his attention she found them warm.

"It must be cooled lava," Tails said. "I wonder--"

Something rumbled from above and a sudden hot air flow made the sulphurous smell stronger.

"--how it got like that?" Amy grabbed his arm. "Run!"

Tails shot one glance at the red glow now coming from the hole and broke into a sprint. Seconds after they started running a torrent of magma flooded through the hole.

They hurtled down the passageway, grateful for the slight slope which slowed the flow and kept them just ahead of it. After a breathless few seconds, they reached another flight of steps, this one leading upwards and bounded to the top.

"It's not rising any further." Tails said, watching it while he caught his breath.

In fact the lava was already starting to ebb away.

"Maybe another hole opened," Amy speculated.

Tails looked alarmed. "Well I'm glad it waited until we were past!"

The two of them looked around. Now the lava level had dropped, the area where they stood was noticeably cooler than it had been since they'd entered the tunnels.

"I think we're close," Tails said. "I remember the Emerald Chamber being the other side of the active part of the volcano."

The steps continued upwards and they were breathless again by the time they reached the top. No further traps or wards hindered them though and from the tunnel ahead a watery green glow was visible.

Amy caught her breath as they entered. She hadn't been admitted here before and hadn't been prepared for the size of it. The Emerald sat in the centre of the room, slightly raised on a dais of sorts, and the light from it filled the whole chamber, pulsing gently.

Tails though shook his head. "That's not right. It was brighter than that before. It looks..." he paced around it. "I don't know--sort of washed out."

Amy drew her eyes away from the gem. "Are you sure? It looks pretty bright to me."

"I'm sure." Tails nodded. "Something's wrong."

He walked around the room, peering into corners as if he somehow expected to find Knuckles there after all.

"He's not here," Amy said, watching him. "We wouldn't have got this far without him finding us if he was."

Tails visibly wilted. "I know," he said. "I didn't really expect them to be. It's just, after you said, I sort of hoped..."

Amy cast a last quick look around. "So we go with your idea, and check out the fortress," she said, trying to sound as positive as possible at that prospect. "I suppose going out will be easier than coming in at least." She looked back at the passage to the stairs. "I hope."

Tails grinned. "Oh, much!" he said. "Look."

He darted across to a carving in the wall and made to push at it. Before his fingertips had even touched the stone it slid aside, revealing daylight beyond.

Amy followed him out into the sunshine. "You couldn't have taken us this way in the first place?" she asked quizzically.

Tails shook his head. "Look."

Amy turned back. The doorway, or what _had_ been the doorway, was now distinguishable from the rockface only by a faded engraving.

"It does open from this side, but Knuckles never told anyone else how to do it."

"Trusting soul," Amy commented wryly. "Let's get back to the plane then."

---End Part 11---


	12. Chapter 12

In spite of his still simmering anger Knuckles was close to laughing as he stared at Sonic. The hedgehog had spent the middle hours of the night searching them out a small airfield and was now, in the pre-dawn darkness, perched on the pilot's seat of a beefy-engined, but spindly-legged aircraft. 'Perched' was the operative word--Sonic's toes dangled a good foot short of the rudder pedals even at their fullest forward position.

Knuckles stood on the wing and leaned over into the cockpit to get a better look. "Could it be your ego is so lofty you haven't _noticed_ humans are a taller species?" he asked.

"Oh stop smirking and help me find some blocks for the pedals so I can reach." Sonic jumped out and down to the ground. "Unless you want to do the flying."

Knuckles shrugged. He'd had a few lesson in the Tornado from Tails, and experimented a bit with some of Robotnik's abandoned vehicles on the Island, but he always relied more on the knowledge that he could at a pinch, bail out and glide safely down if need be.

After some creative adaptation of the pedals and seating arrangements they were ready to go. Sonic heaved up two full jerry cans of fuel and stashed them either side of Knuckles.

"See, there are advantages to not taking up as much space," he said.

Knuckles shifted in his seat and tugged the safety harness loose from under the fuel cans.

"Being able to sit between several gallons of flammable liquid is an _advantage_?" he muttered.

"It is if you don't want to end up nose down in a field when we run out of the stuff." Sonic climbed back aboard. "I suppose we could always stroll up to the fuel pumps at a convenient airfield and ask them to fill her up."

Knuckles didn't dignify that with a answer. Instead he looked out at the black and red striped wings. "And you don't think we're the least bit conspicuous in this thing?"

"Of course." Sonic turned to grin at him. "It's the last thing they'll expect!"

Knuckles doubted that, but didn't bother to argue. The plain fact was that whether he was willing to admit it out loud to Sonic or not, he couldn't run all the way back to the base with his foot in the state it was. This was quicker and easier all around. What happened when they arrived--well they'd deal with that when the time came.

"Ready?" Sonic asked.

"Yes."

Sonic flicked switches and the engine burst into life with a cough, belching blue-grey smoke into the darkness.

"Let's go!"

* * *

"Well," Tailed pulled the biplane around to circle at the perimeter of Robotnik's fortress. Smoke drifted against the sky, wafted around the angular structures protruding against the horizon. Nothing moved.

"Here we are."

"And not shot at yet," Amy leaned over the side and peered down.

Tails took a deep breath. "Here goes then."

He rolled level and dived across the perimeter, picking up all the speed he could in case they did need to outrun any bots.

No one and nothing seemed to take any notice of this high speed run in and after a few minutes of the wind screaming in the flying wires, Tails levelled out and slowed, feeling slightly abashed.

"No one home," Amy said, though her voice sounded as nervous as Tails felt.

The fox shook his head. "Doesn't look like it." He pointed. "There's a landing strip."

He touched down on the concrete strip and taxyed to a halt. Still nothing came to attack them.

"This is weird." Tails said. "Something's wrong here too. Even when Robotnik's away from the place it's usually teeming."

They both jumped down to the ground and glanced quickly about, checking for alarms or automated defenses. The distant clink of metal on metal suggested that somewhere in the distance something was still running, but the lights which normally shone from the scaffolds were dimmed.

"Everything's running at low power," Tails speculated.

"Or the power is going somewhere else." Amy shifted uncomfortably. "Let's get inside. We're too exposed here. If anything did come we'd be toast."

Tails nodded and pointed at the nearest entrance. In the half light it was not an appealing sight, and he hoped the internal lighting at least would be functional.

He was disappointed. Inside, the corridors were as dimly lit, and as empty, as the landing area.

They wandered almost at random, heading vaguely for the centre of the complex until a sudden sound made them duck for cover behind a collection of spare parts as a wheeled and spiked bot hurtled past.

"In a big hurry," Amy said, picking herself up once it was out of sight.

Tails looked in the direction it had taken and nodded. "Think we should find out why?"

Amy followed his gaze and nodded. "Only lead we've had so far isn't it."

They moved cautiously along the corridor, alert for other bots. None appeared though the noise from up ahead grew gradually louder. Eventually they came to a sliding door but stood carefully out of range of its sensor.

"I think we want a more discreet entrance," Amy said.

Tails nodded and flew up to a ventilation screen near the roof.

"We're not going to able to fit through, but I can see in," he said, after a moment. "The room's full of bots, round some sort of machine. There's a big computer screen on the wall." He squinted through the grill trying to make out the words. "Says, 'retrieval program error."

He dropped back to the floor. "Sonic and Knuckles must have interrupted the experiment. Something went wrong." He faltered, not wanting to think about what the consequences had been.

"'Retrieval program' sounds like there might be a way to reverse it though. They might be all right, just trapped wherever they were sent," Amy said, hopefully. "We need to get a look at it. Maybe it's fixable."

Tails brightened. "Maybe. That's what the bots must have been trying. But bots are dumb. I bet I could do it better."

He flew up to the grille again. "We need a distraction to get them out of there though."

"Hmm," Amy frowned. "That could be tricky -- they don't seem to have cared much about our arrival here so far."

"Maybe we need to be less--" Tails grinned, remembering Amy's own phrasing, "--_discreet_. Get ready to get out of sight, I've got an idea."

He propelled himself rapidly down the corridor. When he was a suitable distance away he leapt at one of the sirens mounted on the wall. It duly broke into an ear splitting wail. However urgent the bots thought their current task was, this would surely be a priority.

He hoped.

Tails sprinted back down the corridor, then skidded to a halt and ducked into a side room as he heard to tromp of metal feet from around the corner ahead. Once they had passed he continued. It took a surprisingly long time. Their were more than he'd expected and he hoped Amy had managed to hide in time. He felt a sudden pang at not having given her more warning f what he was planning.

Fortunately, she sprang up from a panel in the floor as he approached.

"That has to be the single most stupid thing I've ever seen you do, Tails!" she shouted. "I always thought you had more sense than Sonic, but he's obviously rubbed off on you!"

Tails grinned with relief. "It worked then?"

"There's certainly a lot less bots in there now, yes," she allowed.

Tails checked at the grille. "Yup. Empty."

The two of them hurried inside.

"We probably haven't got long," Amy said.

Tails was already working. His hands darted across the computer consoles, his eyes scanned the messages on the screen.

Suddenly he darted underneath a piece of equipment and after a moment started laughing.

Amy ducked to stare at him. "Something you want to share?" She asked. "Or have you really lost it after all?"

"Trust Robotnik to not program in a check for something so obvious." Still giggling, Tails stood up, clutching a small cylinder in his hand.

"What's that?"

"That," Tails waved it then started rummaging in the spare parts boxes which lined the room. "Is a fuse. A burnt out fuse."

"You're kidding?" Amy took it from it and turned it over in her hand.

"Nope." Tails located a replacement and headed back. "It must have--"

He was interrupted by the clanging of metal.

"Bots on their way back!" Amy spun to look at the door. "Tails!"

Tails flung himself under the apparatus, fuse in had. "It'll only take a sec."

"Have we _got_ a sec?" Amy asked aloud.

The doors slid open. The computer screen opposite flashed:**Estimated time for restart 4 hrs 27 minutes. Confirm restart?**

"Tails!" Amy leapt behind the console anticipating weapons fire but none came.

Tails slapped a button and leapt clear over the equipment he was working on. "They don't want to damage the equipment," He whispered, scooting up next to Amy. He peered out at the milling bots trying to judge the distance between the range of their grabbing arms and the top of the doorway. It would be a tight squeeze.

"Once we're past them, they're not going to hold back," he said. "We'll have to really shift."

Amy nodded wordlessly.

"Ready?" Tails asked. "We're going over their heads."

Amy caught Tails' wrists as he lifted off and flew straight at the bots. Bedfuddled and torn between shooting and not shooting they scattered. Tails belted through the doorway and the two of them landed running.

Only the fact it took the mob of bots a few seconds to sort themselves out and get through the doorway without obstructing one another saved them.

The first bolts of weapons fire impacted around them as they ran outside and leapt gasping into the Tornado.

Tails started the engine and poured on the power without a thought for checks and pre-flights. He kicked the rudder hard to swing the tail around and line up on the runway.

As soon as they left the ground he went into a twisting jinking climb which kept them narrowly clear of the shots.

Nothing pursued them by air though, and soon he was able to establish a more normal climb and head back to safety. They were both quiet for several minutes.

"Do you think it'll work," Amy asked eventually.

"If Robotnik built it right in the first place." Tails stared out, concentrating on holding their course. "And if it does, Sonic and Knuckles are going to arrive back right in the middle of that lot back there." Now the initial danger was past he felt bad about not staying to do more.

"I know," Amy said. "But what else could we do? They managed the first time."

---End Part 12---


	13. Chapter 13

Sonic flew through the night, stopping only once to refill the tanks from the jerry cans of fuel.

In spite of the racket from the engine, Knuckles had fallen asleep not long after they'd taken off the second time. Apparently the past few days had finally caught up with him. He stirred as dawn spilled across the sky.

"Where are we?"

Sonic glanced over his shoulder.

"About 20 miles east of the base."

Knuckles fell silent again.

"Will they have detected us yet?"

"No one's shown up to say hi, if they have." Sonic shrugged, "Probably think we're passing tourists. The excitement won't come until they figure out we aren't." He yawned, and gazed out at the sunrise. A haze covered the ground and the clouds were pink and yellow above it.

"Pretty," he commented.

Knuckles grunted noncommittally.

"Almost makes you homesick doesn't it?" Sonic continued, to break the silence.

Knuckles' reaction was surprisingly vehement.

"It's nothing like home."

Sonic twisted in surprise to stare at him. Knuckles squirmed lower in his seat, looking suddenly embarrassed.

"And it's not homesickness." he finally said, his voice barely audible over the engine note.

Sonic decided against pressing the subject, and returned his attention to the horizon. After a few more moments he spoke again. It was long past time to clear the air.

"Okay," he said without turning. "I'm sorry I dragged you into this. Is that what you want me to say?"

No answer.

Sonic gave it another few seconds then twisted in his seat again to stare at Knuckles.

"Well?"

Knuckles was frowning deeply but not, apparently, at him.

"I--" he started, stopped, started again. "No. Not really."

"Huh?" Taken by surprise, Sonic felt almost affronted. Some way to respond to an apology!

Knuckles opened his mouth to frame another answer then his eyes suddenly widened.

"Sonic!"

Sonic snapped his head back around. Rising from below and ahead of them was a black and angular aircraft. Ports in the wingtips glowed green, looking unpleasantly likely to be weapons.

"I guess they just figured out we weren't tourists." Sonic shoved the nose down and the smaller plane darted underneath the looming shape. A beam of eye-watering green light burst into the air to their right and he reacted without thought, banking so steeply to avoid it that the plane rolled right around through inverted before returning to level.

"That blast was Chaos energy!" Knuckles shouted.

Sonic was eyeing the glow along the black aircraft's wings.

"I have a nasty feeling so is that."

"The two Emeralds." Knuckles said. "One down there, one up here."

Sonic's eyes darted around the sky, his fingers twitching on the controls as he waited for the next shot. "Didn't hang around did he?"

Knuckles ignored the remark. "We need both. Get above that ship."

Sonic obeyed, reasoning they were at least less likely to be shot at with the craft between them and the ground station.

He risked a quick glance over his shoulder. Knuckles was undoing his harness.

"What are you doing?" Sonic yelled, throwing the plane over and barely dodging the first blast from the ship itself. Apparently they weren't as safe here as he thought.

Knuckles grabbed at the sides of the cockpit until their flightpath steadied, then reached for the canopy release.

"I'm going to fetch this one," he said, evenly.

He jumped.

Sonic stared in blank disbelief for a second or two. The he shook his head, rolled the plane onto its back and pulled through into a dive. The upper surface of the black aircraft hurtled by above his head and the wind across the still open canopy snatched away the muttered, "And he reckons _I'm_ impulsive!"

Sonic discovered he only needed to dodge two more shots from the ground before he made an ungraceful landing in the half-desert scrubland outside the base. The weapon, however it was set up, must take some time to charge, or aim or --Sonic's technical knowledge ran out at that point and he settled for-- "Or something."

Sonic didn't wait to find out if anyone had seen his landing. He had already spotted that there were no guards on the perimeter fence and doubted that they were merely spectatating. Most likely they'd been called in to defend the weapon. He also wondered where Robotnik was. This was clearly his handiwork but would he be up there, or down here? In the past he'd always seemed to relish flying his creations himself, but would he trust his safety to the clearly lower technology of this world--however heavily modified?

Sonic quickly decided he didn't have time to speculate. He'd find out soon enough. Or Knuckles would.

Sonic tore straight through the fence in a spin and headed for the cover of the nearest building. The weapon station was immediately identifiable. It had been constructed in the ruins of the control tower he'd demolished on his last visit, using much of the same material. It pointed, snubnosed, at the sky and, as Sonic had expected, was surrounded by armed guards.

To his amazement half of them suddenly ran off, a tight group flanked by several on the fringes. They were heading towards the spot where he'd touched down and it suddenly made sense--he had been seen but they didn't yet know whether he'd landed or crashed.

It wouldn't take them long to find out. Now was the best chance he was likely to get.

Sonic eyed the weapons installation a moment longer, assessing the number of guards, and their positions. Then he moved. He was still accelerating when the first guard shouted. The warning sounded dopplered to Sonic's ears as he sped up, and he couldn't make out the sense of it. Not that it really mattered. He was going too fast for a change of plan now.

He swept around the shortened tower, leaning tightly into the turn as dirt sprayed up from his shoes. The slipstream in his wake swept the guards off their feet. They fell coughing in the dust cloud. Sonic spared them just a glance to check they were down then leapt towards the platform, already curling into a spin as his went.

There was the dull crash of breaking masonry a sharp squeal of tearing metal, then something sparkled as it flew free. Sonic twisted, still halfway through his jump and snatched the Emerald out of the air.

Firing broke out from the guards who'd recovered their feet. Sonic landed in a starting blocks crouch and took off again, jinking across the open ground, towards the fence.

There would be guards around the plane by now. He only hoped they'd left it airworthy, and hadn't decided to shoot first and investigate afterwards.

Only one way to find out of course.

The guards were already running towards Sonic as he approached. The noise from the base must have carried. He bowled straight past them, leapt into the cockpit and fired the engine up almost in the same motion.

The guards had barely turned around before he was rolling. Gunfire burst around his ears and he silently urged the plane to greater speed.

Maybe he should have just run. Compared to his own pace, this slow acceleration to flying speed was like ploughing through syrup.

It took an eternity before the plane lifted off. Sonic held it low for a few more seconds, gathering speed, then pointed the nose at the sky and climbed away.

A metallic bang marked the last, and most accurate of the gunshots. Sonic glanced out and cursed. Fuel streamed out of a ragged hole in the wing, trailing out behind as a glittering, but unwelcome, banner.

Sonic tried to quickly tot up how much fuel might be left and how fast he was losing it and gave up. Either he'd make it back to Robotnik's craft or he wouldn't.

That thought led inevitably to the next problem--quite how he was going to get on board if he did get there was something he hadn't quite worked out yet.

--End Part 13---


	14. Chapter 14

Knuckles hit hard against the glossy side of the black aircraft. Only raw instinct made him smash himself a handhold and cling to it breathlessly until the pain in his arms began to outweigh the pain in his ribs. He scrabbled for purchase for his feet, and finding none, began climbing, hand over hand, digging his claws deeply into the metal skin of the machine, aiming for a hatch several lengths above him.

By the time he reached it his arms were well ahead of his ribs in the pain stakes and his shoulders had joined in to vie for third place.

He surveyed the hatch. On the edge nearest him he could see the locking mechanism, and on the other side, the hinges. Taking out either would probably afford him access, but there were no more footholds here than lower down. He would have to let go with one hand to strike with the other.

He cast a glance downwards. Gliding was all very well, but the slipstream was strong and the aircraft fast-moving. He was likely to hit the tail at least before falling, and he suspected that gliding while unconscious might just be beyond him.

That said, the only alternative was hanging here until he tired and fell anyway, so it wasn't really much of a choice after all.

He dug his left fist in a little deeper and lashed out with his right, slicing away at the metal of the hatch. It gave surprisingly easily. He clambered around to position himself above, then swung towards it. He hit it squarely with both feet hurtled through as it gave and landed flat on his back inside.

He rolled over and pushed himself to his knees then back to his feet. He would have moved faster if there was anyone to see, but right now there was no one to bluff but himself. For a moment he could acknowledge the greyness at the edges of his vision, combined effect of injury and borderline exhaustion.

The past few days had undone too much of the recovery during the enforced idleness in the human, Chris', home. It hadn't been hastiness which had driven him from Sonic's commandeered plane but a kind of desperation. The need to get that Emerald back _now_, right now, while he was still capable.

He could feel it now. The presence of the Emerald this close made his nerves sing. He walked unsteadily, but unerringly towards it. He met no guards. It seemed the aircraft had been hastily converted, and there was no indication it was meant for a crew. The interior looked unfinished, the structure of the thing exposed. Remembering the fragility of the metal hatch, Knuckles was almost worried that if he misstepped he'd fall straight through.

The compartment containing the Emerald was likewise unguarded and filled with a clear green light. Knuckles stepped into it, the relief like stepping into a hot spring. This single Emerald didn't have the power of the Master, back on the Island. Not by half, but he still felt better just for laying hands on it.

He stepped back after a moment and considered how best to extricate it from the tangle of machinery and wiring. Wires and what looked like glass tubes ran out in all directions, glowing green as they carried the energy from the Emerald to wherever it was being used. To power the weapons certainly. And the engines? The internal systems? Knuckles didn't know and yanking it lose to find out what happened didn't seem exactly ideal. Did he really want to kill all power on an aircraft he was currently riding in?

He considered for a moment, gazing at the steady glow. Then he gave a sudden fierce grin which Sonic would barely have believed had he been there to see it, and decided that--yes--he did.

He stepped forward, and sliced through most of the paraphernalia in two quick movements. He grabbed the Emerald firmly in both hands and tugged. It came loose immediately, as though eager to be out.

The lights went out immediately and all noise stopped. Almost as promptly the aircraft pitched down

Knuckles cradled the Emerald in one arm and stretched the other in front of him to avoid crashing into anything as he made his way cautiously back across the compartment and out into the main body of the ship. There were no windows and with the lights out it was difficult going.

Somewhere up ahead he could hear shouting. There were some crew at least, and they were not happy.

Knuckles made his way back towards the hatch he'd entered through. Sunlight streamed in, restoring visibility in this part of the craft at least.

Someone had beaten him to it. Knuckles had to restrain himself from leaping straight out. Whitman and Robtnik both stood there.

Whitman was shouting.

"I told you someone--"he sneered and corrected himself, "--_something_--jumped." He fumbled with a radio in his hand. "Captain we have an intruder on board."

Robotnik seemed far less ruffled.

"We'll find him. He must have been in the Emerald compartment a moment ago. He cannot have got far."

Knuckles pressed tighter into the shadows. The two humans were standing in the brightest part and had poorer dark-adapted vision than him anyway, so he thought he was safe for the moment. That wouldn't last though. Robotnik was right about there being nowhere to go.

He considered simply smashing out the side of the aircraft and making a jump for it, but that would be noisy and take precious minutes while he became the centre of attention.

He looked at the two humans again. Both were armed, Robotnik with a small laser sidearm he must have had with him when they were transported here, Whitman with a gun not dissimilar to the one that had put the hole in Knuckles' foot.

Evens so, getting past them shouldn't be too much of a challenge. Getting past them without getting shot, losing his grip on the Emerald or hitting some part of the aircraft on the way out might be more so but--

Before he could finish his thought Whitman's radio crackled again.

_"Sir we've got a problem. Incoming aircraft on collision course."_

Whitman grabbed the radio. "Well get out of the way then!"

Knuckles didn't need to listen to the answer to know that a large and now unpowered aircraft could not outmanoeuvre this attacker. He didn't need to look outside to see who it was either. He abandoned the hatch, and broke into a sprint, bursting past the two humans and bounding towards the front of the aircraft.

He nearly missing his footing several times and arrived almost headlong into the cockpit. A single pilot was at the controls and Knuckles hoisted him up and out of his seat before he could reacted. The man went for a weapon and Knuckles cuffed his hand away.

The gun skittered away and disappeared somewhere in the structure.

"I suggest you do not follow it," Knuckles said. He pointed at the pack on the man's back. "If that's a parachute then making use of it might be your best chance of getting out of this in one piece."

The man stared at him for a moment. "My orders--"

"Your orders were given to you by a man who'll be running for the exit faster than you, unless I miss my guess."

The man waited a second longer then turned and headed back the way Knuckles had come.

Knuckles looked out. As expected the black and red shape of the plane they'd stolen last night was bearing down fast.

"Sonic, what are you doing?" Knuckles muttered.

He was answered in the next second as the small plane pilled up and rolled inverted. A whirling blue shape spun out and down and Knuckles leapt back as Sonic came straight through the roof.

Knuckles felt a wave of relief as he saw the hedgehog held the other Chaos Emerald tightly.

"Hurry." He stepped quickly towards Sonic. "We haven't got much time."

"I noticed." Sonic said. " Y'know, I sort of expected to be able to still use this thing to get us back."

Knuckles dismissed this with a wave. "I don't mean that. Something's happening with the Emeralds. Can't you feel it?" He paused for a moment, concentrating, trying to put a description to the feeling. "Like a tugging."

He moved forward further and brought his Emerald up to almost touch Sonic's. The hedgehog gasped.

"Woah. Yeah, I see what you mean. What is it?"

"I'm not sure, but it's getting stronger." Knuckles paused. "I think that whatever sent us here is reversing."

Sonic frowned. "Why? How do you know? Why now?"

"I don't know," Knuckles snapped. "It's just--a feeling." He did not elaborate that he'd ignored the feeling at first, writing it off as a symptom of his own longing to be home. "But I don't think it will work if they're separated."

"And it won't work unless the incoming load is the same as the outgoing one was," a voice stated from the doorway.

Both hedgehog and echidna whirled to face Robotnik.

"You know what's going on?" Sonic demanded.

Robotnik gave a smirking nod. "The recall program. I thought it had failed." He strolled towards them. "Apparently I was too hasty in dismissing it." He gave a theatrical sigh. "Just when I was starting to get settled in here too."

Knuckles looked past Robotnik at the empty passageway beyond.

"Where's Whitman?"

"He decided to employ the better part of valour." Robotnik shrugged. "He jumped."

"That was quick," Knuckles said dryly. "He wasn't wearing a parachute when I passed."

Robotnik gave another mock sigh. "In truth he was starting to get a little too ambitious. I've never been fond of competition."

"You killed him."

Robotnik eyed Knuckles sharply. "I can see you're heartbroken."

"Excuse me?" Sonic put in with a exaggerated gesture of his own, pointing out at the rapidly closing ground. "Haven't we got other things to be worrying about?"

Robotnik smiled. "Indeed. It appears we are all going home together." He stepped closer. "Hold on tight."

Knuckles may well have been unable to restrain himself from thumping that smirking face at this point if it wasn't for the fact that the steady tugging feeling abruptly became a breath-taking snatch and the world exploded into light.

---End Part 14---


	15. Chapter 15

_Something's gone wrong_, Sonic thought, _It didn't hurt this much on the way out_. He felt as if he was being torn in half. Perhaps he was, perhaps they'd all end up spread on in pieces between the two worlds perhaps-- 

The light and the pain vanished abruptly and the three of them landed hard on the metallic floor of Robotnik's fortress.

Sonic was the first back to his feet, closely followed by a staggering Knuckles. Robotnik, being somewhat heavier had hit the ground rather harder, and was--there was no other word for it--wallowing.

Sonic smirked. "Bad landing, doc?"

"For some of us," Robotnik grunted from his prone position. "Badniks! Attack! Intruders!"

Sonic was leaping towards the bots before the shout was even finished, he'd taken out three before the first weapon was raised. The tally had risen to six before Robotnik shouted again a moment later.

"Hold! Standby! Shutdown!"

The badniks froze instantly, some in mid attack tumbled from the air or collided with one another. Sonic struck two more before he managed to brake, and turn around.

Knuckles was crouched beside Robotnik, one knee on his shoulder and one clawed fist at his throat.

"Tell them to let us pass." Knuckles said. "Tell them there is to be no countermand. Tell them to deactivate until we are outside the perimeter." He nudged his claws a little closer, and his voice dropped to a hiss which made Sonic's fur stand on end. "I wanted to kill a human today. I wanted it to be Whitman. I do not need a reason to make it you instead. All I need is for you to give me an excuse. Now tell them!"

Robotnik paled. "You heard!" he croaked. "The intruders are to be allowed to leave. Shutdown all offence. Nothing to be reactivated until they are outside the fortress."

Sonic moved to where Knuckles still crouched.

"You believe that?" he asked.

"No," Knuckles said with a contemptuous glance down at Robotnik. "I believe he'll order our deaths the moment I let go."

"Then we need to move fast."

Knuckles raised his eyebrows. "I was under the impression that was your preferred option, hedgehog."

Sonic grinned. "Naturally." He reached out a hand. "Coming?"

Knuckles grabbed the proffered hand, and rose in one fluid motion to sling an arm around Sonic shoulder in the slightly awkward not-quite-piggy-back they'd worked out in the desert.

"Go," he said.

Sonic went.

As they burst through the exterior doors an explosive projectile shattered the doorway behind them.

Sonic leapt aside to dodge the falling rubble.

"Predictable, even if not truthful," he commented without slowing.

Knuckles hung on grimly and didn't reply.

Sonic skidded to a stop in front of the perimeter wall and threw a glance back over his shoulder at the advancing bots, then another at the sheer surface of the wall.

"Swap." Knuckles said, and dropped back to his feet. Sonic readily switched places and hung on himself as Knuckles climbed.

As they scrambled over the top Sonic let out a whoop and pointed.

"Tails!"

The Tornado swooped towards them waggling its wing as it came.

"Keep hold," Knuckles said, then pitched forward off the wall into a glide.

Tails landed at almost the same moment and they clambered aboard.

"Good timing," Sonic said, grinning broadly. "How'd you know we were coming, squirt?"

Tails didn't answer until they were safely airborne and out of range of the perimeter defences.

"Robotnik's machine was on a timer," he explained. "It was broken, I fixed it. It said it would take a few hours to restart, so I figured it was worth coming back then."

"I'm impressed." Sonic said, still grinning.

"Thank you, Tails." Knuckles said, simply.

"Hey, no problem. So where first?"

"The Floating Island." For once Knuckles was quicker to open his mouth than Sonic.

Tails glanced at Sonic, who shrugged. "Sure, whatever."

Tails banked into a turn and opened the throttle a little more as he climbed.

"We got a report a few days ago that it was over Hilltop."

Knuckles closed his eyes. "No." He pointed. "That way."

Sonic shot him a look. "Thought you said you couldn't do that."

"I said I couldn't do that on Earth." Knuckles' voice slowed and he sank slighter deeper into his seat, tension visibly ebbing away. "Here, I know where I need to be."

Sonic shrugged again. "That way it is."

* * *

The Tornado touched down, rocking slightly as it rolled along the springy turf. 

Knuckles barely waited for it to stop before scrambling out in such a hurry he landed on his hands and knees.

The grass reached past his wrists and the smell of it seemed as though it dissolved a knot inside of him. The pain and the anger and the exhaustion of the past few weeks was not gone entirely of course, but itfelt as though the noose had slackened.

He could feel the Master Emerald's presence, like a throbbing through the ground everywhere he touched the Island, and even in the breeze blowing over it.

It was safe and he was home and for this moment it felt so good that nothing else mattered.

He gathered himself and stood up as Sonic climbed down from the aircraft.

"Thought you were about to kiss the ground there for a minute, Knux."

The second the words left his mouth Sonic looked abashed. "Sorry." He grimaced, then held out the Chaos Emerald he still carried. "Here."

In spite of his relief at being back, Knuckles was galvanised into instant suspicion.

"You're leaving that here?" he asked, "You're sure you don't need it as a bargaining chip for my cooperation the next time you need a foot soldier for your pet crusade?"

He expected a hot answer, but Sonic spoke quietly.

"I figure I cashed in all my bargaining chips in on go on this trip."

Knuckles looked at him warily. "Yes," he agreed. "You did."

He reached out and took the proffered Emerald.

He held it a moment and felt the knot, the noose, loosen all the way.

"Sonic," he said, as the hedgehog started to turn away. Sonic stopped and looked back.

Knuckles let himself smile slightly. "You earned some new ones too."

Sonic raised his eyes to meet Knuckles' scrutinised him for a moment as if waiting for a knock back, then gave that sudden bright grin of his.

"Well I know where to find you!" He flipped Knuckles a jaunty wave, and jumped back up into the Tornado in one bound.

Knuckles watched as the Tornado gathered speed and finally disappeared over the edge of the Island.

"I'll be here."

---END---

**Whee! Done. The longest thing I think I've written in any fandom.**

**Cheers to everyone who's read this far and especially those who've reviewed.**

**If you've enjoyed, please feel free to click the profile link and read my others.**


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